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Official Edition 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



ptoman'* gttUMng 



WORLDS COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION 



Chicago, 1893 



t:DITED BY 

MAUD HOWE ELLIOTT 



WITH SPECIAL ARTICLES BY 

MRS. POTTER PALMER, MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE, MISS S. T. HALLOWELL, MRS. CANDACE 

WHEELER, MISS ALICE C. MORSE, MRS. ELIZABETH W. PERRY, MRS. LOUISA HOPKINS, 

MRS. HENRY RICHARDS, MRS. FREDERICK P. BELLAMY, MRS. EDNA D. 

CHENEY, MRS. JAMES P. EAGLE, MRS. FRANCES B. CLARKE, 

MRS. GEORGE B. DUNLAP, MRS. MAUD HOWE ELLIOTT 

AND 

THE DUCHESS OF VERAGUA, THE PRINCESS M. SCHAHOVSKOY, THE COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN, 

THE BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS, THE BARONESS THORBURG RAPPE, MME. PEGARD, 

FRAU PROFESSORIN KASELOWSKY, MME. QUELLENAC, MME. OXHOLM, MRS. 

BEDFORD-FENWICK, MRS. E. CRAWFORD, MME. EVA MARRIOTTI 



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CHICAGO AND NEW YORK : 

RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY. 
1894. 



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Copyright, 180.1, by Bousaod, Valadon & Co. 



Copyright, 1894, by Rand, McNally & Co. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 

The World's Columbian Exposition has afforded woman an unpre- 
cedented opportunity to present to the world a justification of her 
claim to be placed on complete equality with man. 

The broad fact that able and earnest women from all quarters of 
the globe organized for the purpose of gathering evidence and demand- 
ing a hearing by the court of assembled nations is generally known. 
The following pages — written by women eminent as pleaders in the 
cause — tell eloquently of the detail of their procedure and of the 
results so far attained. 

That their labors will immediately eventuate in the full realization 
of their hopes can not with reason be expected, but that their efforts 
have revealed the possession of unsuspected powers, and will disperse 
the mists of ignorant prejudice that at present cloud the question, can 
not be doubted. 

The publishers hail with pleasure the opportunity that the issuance 
of this volume affords them of adding to the light, and perhaps of 
hastening the coming of the day when woman will be emancipated 
from restraints imposed upon her by a worn-out conventionalism 
absurdly unsuited to our times and conditions. 

The illustrations in the original edition of this work were prepared 
and made by Boussod, Valadon & Co. (successors to Goupil & Co.), in 
Paris ; and the illustrations made by Rand, McNally & Co. appear in 
the present edition on pages 26, 32, 41, 42, 69, 70, 77, 78, 95, 96, 108, no, 
123, 124, 131, 132, 144, 146, 159, 160, 186, 188, 197, 198, 223, 224, 254, 256, 
280, 282, 296, and 298. 













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WEST 

GROUND PLAN WOMAN'S BUILDING. 







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GALLERY PLAN WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

The Growth of the Woman's Building, Bertha Honore Palmer . _ 17 

The Building and Its Decorations, Maud Howe Elliott. ... 33 

Woman in Art, S. T. Hallowell, __..._.._ 67 

Applied Arts in the Woman's Building, C and ace Wheeler. ... 79 

Women Illustrators, Alice C. Morse. _ ______ 89 

The Work of Cincinnati Women in Decorated Pottery, Elizabeth W 

Perry, .._..._-_.._. 101 

Woman in Science, Louisa Parsons Hopkins, ....... 107 

Woman in Literature, Laura E. Richards, _ _ _ ... 119 
The Library, Maud Howe Elliott, _ _ _ _ _ _ . -133 

New York Literary Exhibit, Blanche Wilder Bellamy, _ 139 

Evolution of Women's Education in the United States, Edna D. Cheney, 147 

Music in the Woman's Building, Lena Burton Clarke, ..... 165 

Congresses in the Woman's Building, Mary Q. O. Eagle, _ _ . . 171 

Associations of Women, Julia Ward Howe, _ _ . _ _ . 175 
The Children's Building, Emma B. Dunlap, . . . . _ _ .189 

France, Madame Pegard, .____._._. 203 

Cottage Industries in Scotland and Ireland, Ishbel Aberdeen, . .219 

Philanthropic Work of British Women, The Baroness Burdett-Coutts, _ 229 

Great Britain — Art, E. Crawford, .____.._ 235 

British Nurses' Exhibit, Mrs. Bedford-Fenwtck, _ _ 243 

Germany. Madame Kaselowsky, _________ 247 

Spain, The Duchess of Veragua. ________ 257 

Italy, Eva Mariotti, __________ 265 

Woman's Position in the South American States, Matilde G. de Miro 

Quesada, ____________ 271 

Russia, Princess M. Schahovskoy, _.___.-__ 283 

Sweden, Thorborg Rappe, __________ 299 

Denmark, Madame D'Oxholm, __________ 305 

Greece, Madame Quellenec, _________ 309 

Belgium. Maud Howe Elliott, . _ . _ . _ _ _ -313 

Epilogue, Maud Howe Elliott, _ _______ 317 



C7) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NOTE. — The illustrations in the following list are of objects displayed in the Woman's Building. 
The particular section in which an exhibit is to be found is indicated by the name of the country 
following the title of each illustration. 

PAGE. 

Altar Piece— Romanesque Style. A. Bran ting ______ 299 

Ancient Russian Headgear. Mme. Schabelskoi ______ 286 

Ancient Russian Headgear. Mme. Schabelskoi _ _ _ ' _ _ 294 

Antique Raised Venetian Point Lace. Countess Telfener . 264 

Antwerp Peasant. M. O. Kobbe _ . . _ _ _ . . _ 98 

Arabian Embroidery. Mme. Luce Ben-Aben ______ 178 

AuntTabitha. M. O. Kobbe* __________ 98 

Baptismal Veil of Queen Caroline of Naples. Marchioness Mazzacorati _ 267 

Bas Relief — " Ophelia." Sarah Bernhardt _______ 273 

Black and White Drawing — "Anon Comes April in Her Jollity." Rosina 

Emmet Sherwood ___________ 48 

Black and White Illustration — " In the Meeting House." A.B.Stephens _ 134 

Bolero Vest, in White Satin, Embroidered in Gold. Mme. Pailleron _ _ 196 

Book Cover. Alice C. Morse __________ 97 

Book Cover. Boston collection _________ 97 

Book Cover. Boston collection _________ 94 

Book Cover. Boston collection _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ 142 

Book Cover. Pulpit Hanging and Prayer-Book Cover of Charles I. Her Majesty 

the Queen of England __________ 236 

Book Cover. Sarah W. Whitman _ _ ' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 93 

Book Cover. Sarah W. Whitman _________ 98 

Book Cover, XVI Century. M.A.Sheldon _______ 94 

Bronze Group — " Brother and Sister." Fraulein Finzelberg _ 169 

Bronze Plate. Marcello Lancelot-Croce _______ 114 

Brussels Dress Applique on Real Net. Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians 314 

Cartoon for Stained Glass. Mary E. McDowell ______ 50 

Cartoon for Memorial Window. Helen Maitland Armstrong _ 54 

Carved Buffet. Countess Tankerville _____'_ _ 174 

Carved Fan. Countess Tankerville _ _ _ _ _ _ 180 

Carved Oak Mirror Frame. Miss Reeks ________ 140 

Carved Wood Frame. Mile. Hawkins ________ 308 

Carved Wood and Leather Chair. H. R. H. the Princess of Wales _ _ 125 

Carved Wood and Leather Stool. Princess Maud of Wales _ 128 
Carved Wood and Leather Stool. Princess Victoria of Wales . _ _ .126 

Carved Wood Panel ___________ 141 

Carved Wood Panel. Albertina Nordstrom _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 171 

Carved Wood Panel from Record Room. K. E. P. Mosher _ _ _ 233 

Ceiling of Library. Dora Wheeler Keith _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 136 

Cloak of the Virgin. St. Nicholas Church, Belgium _ _ _ _ _ 316 

Collection of Lace Needles and Bobbins. Committee of Italian Ladies _ . 266 

Condition of Women in France _________ 208 

Corporal Veil, Flat Needlepoint Lace. Presentation Convent Industry - .219 

(8) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 9 

PAGE. 

Costume of a " Hedebipoge " — Peasant Woman of Zeeland . 304 

Costume of a Young Girl of the Isle of Amager _ _ _ . . . 1 50 

Cradle, with Applique of Mirecourt Lace _ . . . . . . . 195 

Curio Table and Chest in Stained Marquetry. Working Ladies' Guild 244 

Curtain of the Throne of the Czars Jean and Peter. Mme. Schabelskoi . . 289 

Cushion. H. R. H. the Princess Louise _______ 240 

Cushion and AVorkcase. Mme. Holmblad _______ 3°5 

Decoration of North Tympanum, " Primitive Woman." Mary Fairchild Mac- 

Monnies _________;.___ 34 

Decoration of South Tympanum, " Modern Woman." Mary Cassatt _ _ 35 

Decorative Panel, " Arcadia." Amanda Brewster Sewell ... 37 

Decorative Panel, " Art, Science, and Literature." Lydia Emmet _ _ 43 
Decorative Panel, " The Republic's Welcome to Her Daughters." Rosina Emmet 

Sherwood _-__-____.___ 39 

Decorative Panel, " The Women of Plymouth." Lucia Fairchild _ 36 
Design for Banner. Miss Digby _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ .164 

Design for Book Cover. Mary Hathaway Nye ______ 91 

Design for Carpet. Lucy W. Valentine ________ 84 

Design for Hand Mirror. Mrs. E. W. Blashfield ______ 163 

Design for Wall Paper. Anna Lee _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -85 

Designs for Book Covers. Alice C. Morse _______ 90 

Designs for Lace. Nina French _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 137 

Diagram of the Woman's Building ________ 6 

Diana — Statue. Miss Grant __________ 234 

Dragon Plate. Parsons & Brown _..'._'____ 87 

Embossed Coppers. Rosalie Juel _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - 279 

Embroidered Brocade. Lady Henry Grosvenor ______ 206 

Embroidered Landscape — " Apple Blossom Time." A.J.Peters 82 
Embroidered Linen Toilet Table Drapery XVII Century Design. Mme. Nar- 

ischkine's School ___________ 168 

Embroidered Panels. Leroudier _________ 199 

Embroidered Portiere. J. M. Dixon ________ _ 228 

Embroidered Screen. Gabrielle Delessert ______ 170 

Embroidered Silk Cushion. Agnes Branting _______ 310 

Embroidered Vellum Frame. Boston Society of Decorative Art _ _ _ 245 

Embroidered White Satin Cushion. H. R. H. Princess Louise of Denmark _ 206 

Embroidery. Charlotte Georgeville ________ 270 

Embroidery on White Satin _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .250 

Embroidery. Pupils of the House of the Legion of Honor _ _ _ 59 

Enameled Cup — " The Four Seasons." Marie Louvet _____ 149 

Enameled Glass. Ella Casella _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 116 

End of the Hop Harvest. Miss Stuart Wood ______ 242 

Entrance to Russian Section, Princess Schahovskoy, Mme. Doubassoff, 

Mile. Polienoff, Mile. Olsonfieff, the Princess Wolkowski, and others _ 290 
Etching — Portrait of Mrs. Piper at Spinning Wheel. E. Piper _ _ -92 

Exhibits of La Maison Henry _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 212 

Fac-Simile of Bible belonging to Queen Elizabeth. Royal Society of Art 

Needlework _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 118 

Faience. Hortense Richard _________ 200 

Fan — "Aurora." Maison Ahrweiler -__-____ 66 

Fans. E. Buissot -____'______ 86 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Finger Plates. Violet M. Parker _________ 230 

Fire Screen. Marianne Furst and Hermine Walte _ _ _ • _ _ 3*7 

Flat Needlepoint Lace Fan Cover. Presentation Convent _ _ _ _ 221 

Flat Needlepoint Lace Fan Cover. Presentation Convent _ _ _ .225 

Flounce of the Queen of Westphalia. Countess di Papadopoli _ 267 

Flounce, Venetian Point, XVII Century. Countess di Brazza _ 264 

French Alen9on Point Lace Fan. Lefebure ______ 2I o 

French Colbert Point Lace Flounce. Lefebure _ _ _ _ _ 167 

Gold Embroidery XVI Century. Countess di Brazza _____ 26 'o 

Hangings Embroidered in the School of Mme. Luce Ben-Aben _ _ _ T 53 

Illustrated Page from Nursery Receipts. Mary Hathaway Nye _ _ _ 9 1 

Jabot of Jerome Bonaparte. King of Westphalia ______ 267 

Landscape — " Banks of the Oka." Mile. Olsonfieff _____ J 3% 

Landscape. Princess Imretinski _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 288 

Large Goblet of Etched Glass. Hilda Petterson ______ 303 

Limoges Underglaze Jar. E. A. Richardson _______ 3 J 9 

Linen Chattaduk Wall Hanging. Mme. Cilluf Alsson _ _ _ _ 301 

Little Knitter. M. O. Kobbe __________ 9§ 

Louis XV. Table. Mme. G. Nieter ________ 121 

Macrame Towels ____________ 26 9 

Marble Bust of Princess Obolensky. Princess Schahovskoy _ _ _ 22 

Marble Statue — "Spring." Mme. L, Contan _______ 3 1 

Marquetry Screen. Working Ladies' Guild _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 3§ 

Miniature. Camille Isbert _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I 77 

Miniature— " Toilet of Venus." Mme. Herve ______ 2 ° 

Moorish Woman Preparing Couscousson _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 166 

Moses' Cradle. Mile. Susse __________ 1 9 I 

Needlework Panel. Miss Eliot Walker ________ 93 

Novi Vase. E.Richard __________ 2l8 

Oil Painting — "Autumn Evening." E. Beernart ______ 3 12 

Oil Painting — "A Vision." Frau Bieber Bohm _____ 28 

Oil Painting — " Christ and the Sinner." Countess Kalkreuth _ _ _ 2 4& 

Oil Painting — " Death of Mignon." Adrienne Potting _ 75 

Oil Painting — " Elaine." Frau von Pruschen _______ 46 

Oil Painting — Flowers. Fraulein Ley _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 55 

Oil Painting — Flowers. Her Majesty Queen Louise of Denmark _ _ 3°6 
Oil Painting— Fruit. Molly Cramer _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .252 

Oil Painting — Landscape. Frau Schroeder _ _ _ _ _ _ _ x 43 

Oil Painting — Landscape. Fraulein Von Kendell _____ 2 4 

Oil Painting — "Mars and Venus." Poppe Liideritz _ _ _ 74 

Oil Painting — " Molly's Ball Dress." Kate Perugini _____ T 57 

Oil Painting — " Morning Prayer." C. E. Fischer ______ 73 

Oil Painting— "On the Cliff." Louise Abbema ______ 2I 7 

Oil Painting— " The Bath." Mme. Demont-Breton _ _ _ _ _ i9 2 

Oil Painting— " Thoughts." Fraulein Liibbes ______ T 7 2 

Old Baptismal Gown. Baroness Reedtz Thott _ _ _ _ _ _ X 9Q 

Old English Clock in Carved W T ood Case. Mrs. Eliot _____ 109 

Old Silk Petticoat. Mme. Vallo _________ 307 

Painted Glass Window. Cecilia Boklund _______ 2 97 

Painted Porcelain Vase, Old Swedish Style. Helene Hold _ I02 

Painted Screen ____________ 57 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 11 

PAGE. 

Painted Screen — Imitation Gobelin. Anna Boberg 300 

Painting — "A Sellrein Woman." Baroness Marianne Eschenburg . . 133 

Painting — " France on the Way to the Chicago Exposition. - ' Louise Abbema 202 

Painting. Louise Abbema .._.--. ... 207 

Painting — " The Old Man's Soup." Mme. Arthur Arnould . . _ 276 

Panel — " Influence of Woman in the Arts ' _______ '45 

Panel— "The Arts of Woman" ...__.-.. '45 

Paris Vase. Mme. E. Apoil _________ 272 

Part of Lace Dress. Ex-Empress Frederick __..._ 253 

Part of Lace Dress. Ex-Empress Frederick _ . . - - _ - 315 

Pen and Ink Drawing — " Kittens at School." A. R. Wheelan ... 99 

Pen and Ink Sketch — Landscape. Princess Imretinski _ 284 

Pillow Sham. Mme. Crouvezier _________ 204 

Point Coupe. H. R. H. Princess Royal Louise of Denmark _ . 274 

Portfolio Containing Portraits of Distinguished Swedish Women _ 122 

Portrait of a Child. Alice Grant . . _ . - - - - - 187 

Portrait of Archduchess Marie Therese ________ 16 

Portrait of Miss K. L. Minor __________ 15 

Portrait of Mme. Carnot __________ 16 

Portrait of Mrs. Beriah Wilkins _________ 15 

Portrait of Mrs. Charles Price _________ 15 

Portrait of Mrs. Edwin C. Burleigh _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .15 

Portrait of Mrs. Flora Beall Ginty _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ 15 

Portrait of Mrs. Gen. Vischnegradsky ________ 16 

Portrait of Mrs. John A. Logan _________ 14 

Portrait of Mrs. Margaret Blaine Salisbury _ _ _ _ _ _ 15 

Portrait of Mrs. Potter Palmer _________ 14 

Portrait of Mrs. Ralph Trautmann _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .1 5 

Portrait of Mrs. Russell B. Harrison ________ 14 

Portrait of Mrs. Schepeler-Lette _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16 

Portrait of Mrs. Skowzes __________ 16 

Portrait of Mrs. Susan G. Cooke _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - 14 

Portrait of Mrs. Susan R. Ashley _________ 15 

Portrait of Mrs. V. C. Meredith _ _ _ _ _ _' _ _ - 14 

Portraits of Foreign Lady Commissioners _______ 16 

Portrait of Prince Bariatinsky. Princess Bariatinsky _ _ _ _ - 179 

Portraits of Prominent Officials of the Board of Lady Managers _ _ _ 14 
Portraits of Vice-Presidents of the Board of Lady Managers _ _ _ -15 

Portrait Sketch. Allegra Egglestone ________ 72 

Portrait. Vilma Parlarghy __________ 248 

Pottery and Glass. Cincinnati Collection _______ 105 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _ _ _ _ _ ._ _ _ ,_ 100 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _________ 103 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _ ______ 104 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 1 1 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .112 

Pottery — Cincinnati Collection _________ 100 

Priest's Vestment. Angela Baffico _________ 262 

Red Satin Embroidered Cover, Venice, XV Century. Countess di Brazza _ 267 
Reproduction of Louis XV. Window. Mile. Berthe Floury, Mile. Eugenie Frit- 
man, Mme. Dubor ___________ 83 



12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Screen. Countess Greffuhle _________ 2 i6 

Screen — Design in National Style. K. Petre _ _ _ _ _ _ - 151 

Screen. H. I. H. the Archduchess Marie Therese _ 3I 8 

Seal of New York State Board. Lydia Emmet _ _ _ _ _ - 139 

Seat of Stool in Leather Work. Princess Maud of Wales _ _ _ _ 129 

Seat of Stool in Leather Work. Princess Victoria of Wales _ _ _ -127 

Silk and Gold Embroidered Panel. Working Woman's Society of Vienna . 183 
Silk and Gold Embroidered Vestment, made for His Eminence Cardinal 

Gibbons. Convent of Poor Clare's Industry ______ 226 

Silk Embroidered Vestment, made for His Grace the Archbishop of Ireland. 

Royal School of Art Embroidery _______ 220 

Sketch for Glass Window. Mrs. Parrish _ _ _ _ _ _ - 53 

Sketch for Window. A. F. Northrop ________ 148 

Sketch for Window. L. F. Emmet _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -64 

Sketch for Window. Mary Tillinghast _______ 56 

Sketch for Window. Mrs. J. B. Weston . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 60 

Spanish Lace with the Arms of Charles V. Lady Layard _ 258 

Spread and Pillow Cover. M. Crouvezier _ _ _ _ _ _ - 155 

Stephanus Vase. Mme. Apoil _________ 214 

Suggestion for Reredos. Mrs. Kenyon Cox _ _ _ _ _ _ -71 

Tapestry. Barbara Wolf __________ 44 

Tapestry. Bengka Olsson __________ 302 

Tapestry from Raphael's Cartoon, "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes." 

Annie Lyman _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 176 

Terra Cotta Bust. Princess Schahovskoy _______ 292 

Terra Cotta Statuette—" Boy and Dog." R. A. Fraser Tytler _ _ 232 

" The Letter of Resignation." Mary Hallock Foote _____ 89 

Wall Hanging Representing the Goddess Bonomie. Burne-Jones _ _ 120 

Wall Panel. Royal School of Art Embroidery ______ 80 

Water Color — Decorative Panel. Madelaine Lemaire _ _ _ _ .88 

Water Color — Illustrated Page of the Bible. H. R. H. Princess Louise of 

Denmark _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 115 

Water Color — Jessup Collection. Minnie R. Sargent ..____ 107 

Water Color — Jessup Collection. Minnie R. Sargent _ _ _ _ 113 

Water Color. Madelaine Lemaire _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ 18 

Water Color — Portrait. Rosina Emmet Sherwood _ _ _ _ 52 

Water Color — Portrait of the Empress of Russia. Mme Kraneskoi _ 281 

Water Color — Portrait. Rosina Emmet Sherwood _____ 62 

Water Color. Rosina Emmet Sherwood _ _ _ _ _ _ 194 

Watteau Screen, Louis XV. Design. Countess Tankerville _ _ _ 162 
Woman's Building. Designed by Sophia G. Hayden _ _ _ Frontispiece 

"Wood Dove." Mary Hallock Foote ________ 63 

Young Girl Bathing. Leon Bortanae _______ 61 



ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS EDITION. 



Administration Building ------------26 

Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building -------- 32 

Columbian Fountain ____---__--- 41 

View of the Great Basin ----------- 42 

Statue of Columbus ------------- 69 

Agricultural Building ------------ 70 

Electricity Building, Y\ T estern Facade - 77 

Marine Cafe and Brazilian Buildinr - - - 78 

Mines and Mining Building __________ gg 

The Peristyle, Statue of the Bull, and Statue of the Republic - 96 

United States Government and Manufactures Buildings - :o8 

Interior of the Agricultural Building ________ I1Q 

The Cart-horse Group of Statuary - - - - - - - - -123 

The South Pond ------------- 124 

The Lagoon - - - - - - - - - - - - - -131 

Electricity Building ------------ 132 

Horticultural Building - - - - - - - - - - - -144 

Horticultural Building, Central Portion -------- ^6 

Electricity Building, Eastern Fagade - - - - - - - - -159 

Fisheries Building - - - - - -.- - - - - - 160 

Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, Krupp Gun, Dairy, and Forestry Buildings 186 
Convent of La Rabida ------------ 188 

Statue of Innocence ------------- 197 

Looking North from the Mines and Mining Building _ 198 

The Genius of Navigation __--_-_____ 223 

View at the North End of the Lagoon _____._.__, 224 

The Genius of Discovery - - - - - - - - - - - 254 

Spring — Statue ------------- 256 

Ruins of Yucatan ------------- 2 8o 

View of the Main Basin ----------- 282 

Bureau of Public Comfort -__---_____ 296 

Bird's-eye View from the Ferris AYheel -------- 298 



m 1 ' 


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Mrs. Susan G. Cooke, 
Secretary Board of Lady Managers. 



Mrs. V. C. Meredith, 
Vice-Chairman Executive Committee, 
and Chairman of Committee on Awards. 




Mrs. Potter Palmer, 
President Board of Lady Managers. 





Mrs. Russell B. Harrison, 
Vice-President at Large. 



Mrs. John A. Logan, 
Vice-Chairman Committee on Ceremonies. 



PROMINENT OFFICIALS OF THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS. 





Mrs. Edwin C. Burleigh, 
Second Vice-President. 




Mrs. Ralph Trautmann, 

First Vice-President. 



Mrs. Charles Price, 
Third Vice-President. 





Miss K. L. Minor, 
Fourth Vice-President. 



Mrs. Beriah Wilkins, 

Fifth Vice-President. 




Mrs. Susan R. Ashley, 

Sixth Vice-President. 

(Resigned.) 





Mrs. Margaret Blaine 

Salisbury, 

Eighth Vice-President. 



Mrs. Flora Beall Ginty 
Seventh Vice-President. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS. 





Her Imperial Highness 
Marie Therese, 
President Imperial Ladies' Com- 
mission, Austria. 



Mrs. Skouzis, 

President of the Syllogue, Athens, 

Greece. 




Mrs. Schepler-Lette, 
Germany. 





Mrs. Gen. Vischnegradsky, 
President Imperial Ladies' Com- 
mission, Russia. 



Mme. Carnot, 

President Ladies' Committee. 

France. 



FOREIGN LADY COMMISSIONERS. 



ART AND HANDICRAFT IN THE 
woman's BUILDING. 

THE GROWTH OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 

THE authorization of a Board of Lady Managers by Congress 
came by the natural process of evolution, and was the direct 
result of the good work done by women at the Centennial 
Exhibition in Philadelphia and the succeeding Cotton Centennial 
at New Orleans. 

In Philadelphia the Woman's Commission, led by Mrs. Gillespie, 
worked long and earnestly, not onty to bring together the exhibits 
shown in the Woman's Department, but to raise the funds necessary 
to build the woman's pavilion and to provide the opening chorus, 
which was composed for the occasion by Wagner, and sung by a 
thousand children's voices. The creation of the Department of 
Public Comfort, which grew to be of immense value and impor- 
tance, was the suggestion of the women, though the men adopted 
and enlarged upon it. The work done was heroic, and the leaders 
deserved to be immortalized for the tremendous results brought 
about with so little outside aid. 

In New Orleans, at the Cotton Centennial, Mrs. Julia Ward 
Howe, aided by one woman commissioner from each State and 
Territory, did a grand work. When the women's exhibit was 
brought together in New Orleans, it was found that the Exposition 
Company had not funds enough to enable the managers to fit up 
their department and show their goods. Mrs. Howe then made a 
direct appeal to Congress, through some of her friends who were 
members of that body, and the sum of $15,000 was voted to the 
Woman's Department in order to help them out of their uncom- 
fortable situation. The valuable work done by these two organi- 
zations of women had prepared the public mind so thoroughly for 
the cooperation of women in exposition work that when the matter 

2 (17) . . . 




WATER-COLOR. Madelaine i^emaire. France. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 19 

was brought before the World's Fair Committee of Congress, Mr. 
Springer of Illinois willingly inserted the clause authorizing the 
creation of the board of women, and championed it in the com- 
mittee and before the House, where it met with no serious 
opposition. 

The Board of Lady Managers was created by an Act of Congress, 
Section 6 of which reads as follows: " And said Commission is 
authorized and required to appoint a Board of Lady Managers of 
such number and to perform such duties as may be prescribed by 
said Commission. Said board may appoint one or more members 
of all committees authorized to award prizes for exhibits which 
may be produced in whole or in part by female labor." 

Upon the assembling of the Board of Lady Managers in Chicago, 
we found that the first important duty to be settled was whether 
the work of women at the Fair should be shown separately or in 
conjunction with the work of men under the general classifications. 
This was a burning question, for upon this subject every one had 
strong opinions, and there was great feeling on both sides, those 
who favored a separate exhibit believing that the extent and 
variety of the valuable work done by women would not be appre- 
ciated or comprehended unless shown in a building separate from 
the work of men. On the other hand, the most advanced and 
radical thinkers felt that the exhibit should not be one of sex, but 
of merit, and that women had reached the point where they could 
afford to compete side by side with men, with a fair chance of 
success, and that they would not value prizes given upon the 
sentimental basis of sex. 

Both in Philadelphia and New Orleans the plan of separate 
exhibits had been carried out as well as possible ; but in both cases 
the friends of women were disappointed by the meager showing 
made when the work done by women alone was separated, and they 
were not credited with the immense amount, both in variety and 
volume, which women had done in conjunction with men. 

From the farm the dairy products went into the general exhibit, 
presumably as men's work. The interesting and unusually attract- 
ive showing of the bee and silk-worm industries, although prepared 
largely by women, went also into the general classification; and so 
with the thousand and one articles made in the factories of the 
world by men and women working conjointly; for women's dis- 
tinctive part could not be separated without destroying the finished 
article. 

In our body the vote on this question did not come up directly, 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 21 

but indirectly, when it was decided, and I think wisely, that there 
should be no separate exhibit, but that each manufacturer should 
be expected to state whether his exhibit was in whole or part the 
work of women; and that we should have some device indicating 
this fact placed thereon, so that all who go through the Exposition 
and are at all interested in this matter can easily see a statement 
of the facts. 

Our request to the Committee of Installation to put the neces- 
sary questions in the entry blanks, then being prepared to send to 
proposed exhibitors, was immediately granted, and almost all 
of the manufacturers who sent in their applications for space 
answered our questions, the first being: " Was this article produced 
wholly or in part by the work of women?" The affirmative 
answer to this question entitles us to members on the juries of 
award — a most important privilege for the protection of women's 
interests, which was conferred upon us by Congress. A good illus- 
tration was given of the lack of appreciation of the universality of 
woman's work in the world, when I asked one of the members of 
the Board of Control, at the time they were prescribing our duties, 
how many representatives we might have on the juries which 
would pass upon exhibits that were wholly or in part the work of 
women. His reply was that we might appoint all the members of 
those juries; that they were perfectly willing for us to name the 
entire jury that was to award prizes in departments where women's 
work was to be judged. This was so overwhelming, that I modestly 
insisted that we name only one-half of such juries, as otherwise, 
though I did not tell him so, we should have had the appointing of 
all the members of all the juries of the Exposition, except in very 
few of the departments of classification. 

The desire of the Board of Lady Managers is to present a com- 
plete picture of the condition of women in every country of the 
world at this moment, and more particularly of those women who 
are bread-winners. We wish to know whether they continue to do 
the hard, wearing work of the world at prices which will not main- 
tain life, and under unhealthy conditions; whether they have access 
to the common schools and to the colleges, and after having taken 
the prescribed course are permitted graduating honors; whether 
the women, in countries where educational facilities are afforded 
them, take a higher stand in all the active industries of life as well 
as in intellectual pursuits; how large the proportion is of those who 
have shown themselves capable of taking honors in the colleges to 
which they are admitted, etc. 




MARBLE BUST OF PRINCESS OBOLENSKY. PRINCESS M. SCHAHOVSKOY. RUSSIA. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 23 

We aim to show, also, the new avenues of employment that are 
constantly being opened to women, and in which of these they are 
most successful by reason of their natural adaptability; what edu- 
cation will best fit them for the new opportunities awaiting them, 
and to answer a host of kindred questions. 

After a long period of inaction the enrollment of foreign women 
was rapidly effected, and we are now possessed of the most power- 
ful organization that has ever existed among women, having official 
committees, created by government and supported by government 
funds, cooperating with us in England, France, Italy, Germany, 
Spain, Austria, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, 
Siam, Japan, Algeria, Cape Colony, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, the 
Argentine Republic, Jamaica, Ceylon, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, 
Venezuela, Panama, and the Sandwich Islands. 

The members of the English committee, under the patronage 
of the Queen, and of which the Princess Christian is president, 
have been chosen with singular discretion. Each chairman is a 
power in herself, as well as perfect mistress of her own line of work; 
and all are enthusiastically following the leadership of their much- 
loved president. To give an indication of the strength and effi- 
ciency of this committee, I need only mention such names as the 
Duchess of Abercorn, the Marchioness of Salisbury, the Countess 
of Aberdeen, Lady Henry Somerset, Lady Brassey, Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts, Lady Knutsford, Lady Jeune, Mrs. Bedford-Fen- 
wick, and Mrs. Fawcett. 

In France Madame Carnot accepted the active presidency of 
the committee. She secured committees of the most earnest, 
influential, and competent women to second her own efforts. 

Italy was almost the first to announce its committee, under the 
special patronage of Queen Margherita, who is personally directing 
the work, and who will send her marvelous collection of historical 
laces, some of which date back 1,000 years before Christ, having 
been taken from Egyptian and Etruscan tombs. They are both 
personal and crown property, and have never before left Italy. 
This royally generous response to our appeal was doubly welcome, 
for it came when diplomatic relations between the two countries 
were suspended, and it was intended as a special mark of friend- 
ship. Accompanying this lace exhibit is a collection of the work of 
the Italian women of to-day, a prominent feature of which is the 
lace made by the peasant women in the societies organized by, and 
under the direction of, the queen. This exhibit will be one of the 
noted features of our building. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 25 

Russia, which has a committee organized by the Empress her- 
self, sends its remarkable laces and embroideries, and many 
curious national costumes, which are very picturesque and attract- 
ive, both in color and design. 

Japan at first hesitated, and refused to appoint a committee, but 
M. de Guerville had the good fortune to be permitted to give his 
lecture before the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and so inter- 
ested the latter that she consented to become the head of a com- 
mittee of ladies with whom we are now in active correspondence. 
From parts of South America we shall rely mainly upon the 
kindly cooperation of the Latin-American department, which will 
send us such native work as can be spared from its own rich and 
varied collection. Although we have cooperating committees 
there, they have as yet made no definite reports as to what we may 
expect from them. 

Madame Diaz has most kindly cooperated with us, and has 
offered for our building, in addition to other novel attractions, an 
orchestra of Mexican girls in rich costumes, who will play the 
national Mexican airs. 

It will be seen that the names on our foreign committees repre- 
sent not only royalty and the influence of government, but include 
also many women who have risen to the positions which they 
occupy by their own unaided talents, who, without titles or wealth 
to assist them, are recommended only by their evident ability to 
carry on the important lines of work intrusted to their hands. 

The powerful organization which we have secured extends 
around the world, and stands with perfect solidarity for the purpose 
of serving the interests of our sex and making the industrial con- 
ditions easier for them. We have such an organization as has 
never before existed of women for women. That this work is 
needed is evidenced by the pathetic answers from some of the 
countries where our invitation has been declined. For instance, a 
letter received from the government of Tunis states that a com- 
mission of women can not be formed in that country, because local 
prejudice will not allow the native women to take part in public 
affairs. Syrian correspondents write that it will be impossible to 
secure the official appointment of a committee of women in that 
country, as custom prevents women from taking hold of such work, 
and the government will lend no aid; but that an effort will be 
made to send a small exhibit, unofficially. Other oriental countries 
make the same reports — no schools; women not intelligent enough 
to undertake the work ; public prejudice, etc. It seems incredible 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 27 

that the governments of these countries would be willing to make 
admissions which reflect so much upon themselves, or that they 
would allow these shameful conditions to continue. The oppressive 
bonds laid upon women, both by religion and custom, are in some 
cases so strong as to be insurmountable, probably, during the pres- 
ent generation. A lady eminent for her work on behalf of the 
women of India, has informed me that the difficulty in doing any- 
thing for them is their absolute mental inactivity and their lack of 
desire to change their condition; they are so bound by the prevail- 
ing laws of caste and the prejudices that exist, that they have no 
wish for different surroundings; the desire for something better 
must be created before anything can be done to help them. 

We have the hopeful fact to record, however, that even where 
the night has seemed the darkest, we have received letters from 
native women, to whom the dawn of a brighter day is visible, show- 
ing a full comprehension of the situation and an awakened intelli- 
gence. These women are working in their feeble way to send us, 
unofficially, such an exhibit as they can get together, notwithstand- 
ing official refusals. It is unfortunate that we can not hope to have 
women from the Orient present in large numbers at the Exposition, 
so that they might profit by its civilizing influences. 

When our building was planned, we thought with some anxiety 
of the difficulty we would experience in getting creditable objects 
to fill so vast a space, but now we find that a building four or five 
times as large would have been inadequate. I now feel sure that 
notwithstanding the disappointments to exhibitors, this is a benefit 
to the quality of the collection, for such a vigorous process of elimi- 
nation has been required in order to bring the exhibits within the 
bounds assigned, that it has resulted in the exclusion of all but the 
most desirable and attractive objects. 

The moment of fruition has arrived. Hopes which for more 
than two years have gradually been gaining strength and definite- 
ness have now become realities. The Exposition has opened its 
gates. On the occasion of the formal opening of the Woman's 
Building the Board of Lady Managers was singularly fortunate in 
having the honor of welcoming distinguished official representa- 
tives of many of the able foreign committees, and of the State 
boards which have so effectively cooperated with it in accomplish- 
ing results now disclosed to the world. We have traveled together 
a hitherto untrodden path, have been subjected to tedious delays, 
and overshadowed by dark clouds which threatened disaster to our 
enterprise. We have been obliged to march with peace offerings 



/Sliflflll 




OIL PAINTING --"A VISION." Frau Bieber Bohm. Germany. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 29 

in our hands, lest hostile motives be ascribed to us. Our burdens 
have been greatly lightened, however, by the spontaneous sym- 
pathy and aid which have reached us from women in every part 
of the world, and which have proved an added incentive and 
inspiration. 

When our invitation asking cooperation was sent to foreign 
lands, the commissioners already appointed generally smiled doubt- 
fully, and explained that their women were doing nothing; that 
they would not feel inclined to help us, and in many cases stated 
that it was not the custom of their country for women to take part 
in any public effort; that they only attended to their social duties, 
drove in the parks, etc. But as soon as these ladies received our 
message, sent in a brief and formal letter, the free-masonry among 
women proved to be such that it needed no explanation; they 
understood at once the possibilities. Strong committees were 
immediately formed of women having large hearts and brains — 
women who can not selfishly enjoy the ease of their own lives 
without giving a thought to their helpless and wretched sisters. 

Our unbounded thanks are due to the exalted and influential 
personages who became, in their respective countries, patronesses 
and leaders of the movement inaugurated by us to represent what 
women are doing. They entered with appreciation into our work 
for the Exposition, because they saw an opportunity — which they 
gracefully and delicately veiled behind the magnificent laces form- 
ing the central objects in their superb collections — to aid their 
women by opening new markets for their wares. 

This was the earnest purpose of their majesties the Empress of 
Russia and Queen of Italy, both so noted for the progressive .spirit 
they have displayed in promoting the welfare of the women under 
their kindly rule. They have sent large collections of the work of 
peasant women, through organizations which exist under their 
patronage for selling their handiwork. 

The committee of Belgian ladies was kind enough to take 
special pains to comply with our request for statistics concerning' 
the industries and condition of women, notwithstanding the fact 
that the collecting of statistics is not in Europe so popular as with 
us. It has sent complete reports, attractively prepared in the form 
of monographs and charts, giving details which have been secured 
only by great personal effort. Such figures have never before 
been obtained in that country, and the committee itself is surprised 
at the great amount of novel and valuable information it has 
succeeded in presenting. 



30 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Her Majesty the Queen of England has kindly sent an exhibit 
of the work of her own hands, with the message that while she 
usually feels no interest in expositions, she gives this special token 
of sympathy with the work of the Board of Lady Managers because 
of its efforts for women. That the English committee has included 
in its exhibit and in its catalogue a plea for the higher education 
of women is in itself a significant fact. 

Her Majesty the Queen of Siam has sent a special delegate 
with directions that she put herself under our leadership and learn 
what industrial and educational advantages are open to women in 
other countries, so that Siam may adopt such measures as will 
elevate the condition of her women. 

The Exposition will thus benefit women, not alone by means 
of the material objects brought together, but there will be a more 
lasting and permanent result through the interchange of thought 
and sympathy among influential and leading women of all coun- 
tries, now for the first time working together with a common pur- 
pose and an established means of communication. Government 
recognition and sanction give to these committees of women official 
character and dignity. Their work has been magnificently success- 
ful, and the reports which will be made of the conditions found to 
exist will be placed on record as public documents among the 
archives of every country. 

We rejoice in the possession of this beautiful building, in its 
delicacy, symmetry, and strength. We honor our architect and 
the artists, who have given not only their hands but their hearts 
and their genius to its decoration. 

The eloquent president of the Commission last October dedi- 
cated the great Exposition to humanity. We dedicate the Woman's 
Building to an elevated womanhood, knowing that by so doing we 
shall best serve the cause of humanity. 

To serve as a permanent record of the many rare and beautiful 
objects now gathered in the Woman's Building, which will so soon 
be scattered to the four corners of the earth, this illustrated volume 
has been prepared. We greatly regret that lack of time and space 
has prevented our doing complete justice to the achievements of 
our sex, but hope that what has been accomplished may prove of 
service as a basis for future work. 

Bertha Honore Palmer. 




MARBLE STATUE— "SPRING." Mme. L. CONTAN. FRANCE. 



THE BUILDING AND ITS DECORATION. 

THE great work of the world is carried on by those inseparable 
yoke-mates man and woman, but there are certain feminine 
touches in the spiritual architecture which each generation 
raises as a temple to its own genius, and it is as a record of this 
essentially feminine side of human effort that the Woman's Build- 
ing is dedicated. 

In the dread art of war the male element of the race asserts 
itself alone. In its antithesis, the art of peace, woman is para- 
mount. We are yoke-fellows, equal and indivisible, tugging and 
straining at the load of humanity which we must drag a few paces 
onward ere our work is done. On the outskirts of the throng of 
tireless workers there are a few men and women who, when the 
heat and stress of the day are over, climb to the hill-tops, and look- 
ing into the mute heavens read the promise of the coming day. 
A generation ago the seers of our race foretold two great things: 
a material growth and prosperity, the like of which the world has 
never seen; a mastery of electricity, that most potent of man's 
friendly genii, and a great city through which the traffic of the world 
should roll, one of the strongholds of the earth— all this the voice of 
the male seer foretold from his tower, and much more. 

A clearer, sweeter prophecy went forth from the tower where 
the wise women watched the signs of the times: " Woman the 
acknowledged equal of man; his true helpmate, honored and 
beloved, honoring and loving as never before since Adam cried, 
4 The woman tempted me and I did eat.' " 

We have eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the 
Eden of idleness is hateful to us. We claim our inheritance, and 
are become workers, not cumberers of the earth. 

Twenty years ago to be called strong-minded was a reproach 
which brought the blood to the cheek of many a woman. To-day 
there are few of our sisters who do not prefer to be classed among 
strong-minded rather than among weak-minded women. The 
battle has been fought out, and the veterans who have been 
wounded and scarred with that cruelest weapon of ridicule, smile 

3 (33) 



34 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



' Ku 



5 

4 






M 



\ 



to see how easily we assume the 
position which they gave the glory 
of their youth to win for us. We 
honor these women and have written 
their names in golden letters for all 
the world to see and salute in our 
Hall of Honor. 

To see the work of woman at the 
World's Fair we must go through 
every department of human inge- 
nuity, for there is scarcely one of 
these where woman's hand has not 
done a share of the work. The work 
of man and woman, like their inter- 
ests, is one and indivisible. 

In welcoming the visitor to our 
building, we would say: " Enter here 
for a space ; sit in our library and rest 
your eyes with its soft colors; pace 
through our Hall of Honor and under- 
stand the spirit in which it is raised; 
leave criticism upon the threshold as 
you enter. Our salutation is, ' Peace 
be with you.' May your answer be, 
' And with you be peace.' ' 

When I first wandered through 
the courts of this miraculous city, 
which has arisen as if by magic out 
of the desolate borderland between 
the prairie and the lake, I was moved, 
as rarely ever before, by the work of 
man's hand. I have stood upon the 
edge of the Egyptian desert and 
gazed with questioning eyes upon 
the mighty sphinx. I have seen the 
glories of the Acropolis and knelt at 
the shrine of the Greek, but neither 
of these superlative legacies of the 
past impressed me more than did this 
prophecy of the future. For the first 
time in the history of our nation, the 
spirit of art has asserted itself, and 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



triumphs over its handmaidens, com- 
merce and manufacture. The beau- 
ties of the Athens of Pericles, the 
Rome of Augustus, are indeed re- 
called by what we see, but a new art 
is foretold, whose ruins will one day 
be honored as we honor the classic 
fragments of Greece and Rome to- 
day. Comparison is nowhere more 
odious than where all is excellent; 
in my own thought our building 
stands on its own merits, and yet it 
bears comparison with all the rest, 
and loses nothing by it. There may 
be others which have qualities which 
it lacks. It borrows beauty from its 
august neighbors and from its mir- 
rored reflection in the lagoon, but it 
lends as much as it receives, and the 
winged temple is joyfully restful to 
eyes wearied with much gazing. A 
work of art is precious in so far as it 
expresses the personality of its cre- 
ator. Architecture is one of the arts 
most subservient to use, and a build- 
ing should not only express the 
genius of the architect but the pur- 
pose to which it is dedicated. How 
well the architects of the great Gothic 
churches understood this law. No 
other form of religious architecture 
expresses so exalted a spirituality as 
theirs. The aspiring lines, the up- 
springing arches of the great Gothic 
cathedrals lead the eyes upward to 
the sky; the mind to reflection and 
aspiration. Our building is essentially 
feminine in character; it has the 
qualities of reserve, delicacy, and re- 
finement. Its strength is veiled in 
grace; its beauty is gently impress- 
ive; it does not take away the breath 






36 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



with a sudden passion of admiration, like some of its neighbors, 
but it grows upon us day after day, like a beloved face whose 
beauty, often forgotten because the face is loved for itself, now 







DECORATIVE PANEL— "THE WOMEN OF PLYMOUTH." 
Lucia Fairchild. United States. 

and again breaks upon us with all the charm of novelty. I came 
upon our building suddenly one early morning, when the mist- 
curtain was rolling away under a crisp breeze and an ardent sun. 
My heart leaped to a more generous measure. I drew my breath 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



37 



quickly. It seemed to me that I should always see it as then, peer- 
less, shining, a fair temple to that which is essentially feminine in 
human life. The next day I hurried to my work within its doors 
with a single thought, that it was well and conveniently arranged 
for my purpose; but in the coming years I shall see our building in 
all its beauty as I saw it on that never-to-be-forgotten morning. 




DECORATIVE PANEL-" ARCADIA." 
Amanda Brewster Sewell. United States. 

The Woman's Building was planned by Miss Sophia Hayden of 
Boston, a graduate of the Massachusetts School of Technology, of 
the class of 1 890. A national competition of designs by women 
resulted in the choice of Miss Hayden's plans. The site is admira- 
bly chosen from an artistic and practical standpoint. The building 
stands between the Horticultural Hall and the Bureau of Public 



38 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Comfort, directly adjacent to the Sixtieth. Street entrance of the 
Fair. The nearest station of the suburban railway may be reached 
in a two minutes' walk. 

Nothing is more significant of the difference in woman's posi- 
tion in the first and the latter half of our century than the fact that 
none of the eminent writers who have commented upon Miss Hay- 
den's work have thought to praise it by saying that it looks like a 
man's work. Marian Evans and Aurore Dupin found it necessary to 
cloak their womanhood under the noms de plume of George Eliot 
and George Sand. Rosa Bonheur found it convenient to wear 
man's attire while visiting the Parisian stock-yards in order to 
study the animals for her great pictures. At that time the highest 
praise that could be given to any woman's work was the criticism 
that it was so good that it might be easily mistaken for a man's. 
To-day we recognize that the more womanly a woman's work is the 
stronger it is. In Mr. Henry Van Brunt's appreciative account of 
Miss Hayden's work, the writer points out that it is essentially femi- 
nine in quality, as it should be. If sweetness and light were ever 
expressed in architecture, we find them in Miss Hayden's building. 
Every line expresses elegance, grace, harmony. 

The building is in the style of the villas of the Italian Renais- 
sance. It is 388 feet long, 199 feet wide, and 70 feet high. It is 
divided into two stories, which are clearly indicated by the lines of 
the exterior. The most important feature required of the architect 
was the Hall of Honor, which forms the middle of the structure. 
This is a noble apartment, rising to the full height of the building, 
surrounded by a lower two-story structure forming the four facades, 
and containing the minor halls and offices required for committee 
and exhibition rooms. At the second story a corridor surrounds 
the hall, treated in the way of a cloister, with graceful arches 
springing from well-proportioned columns. Looking at the build- 
ing from the water side, we have a central entrance and a pavilion 
at each end connected by an arcade. The main entrance has three 
arches and is surmounted by a loggia inclosed by a colonnade, over 
which rises the pediment. The loggia connects with a balcony, 
which runs from the central entrance to the pavilions and is 
enriched with pilasters of the Corinthian order. Over the pavilions 
are roof-gardens, surrounded by an open screen of light Ionic 
columns, with caryatides over the loggia below. The ornamenta- 
tion which outlines the arches and enriches the exterior is most 
appropriate. The finely modeled pediment and the eight typical 
groups of sculpture surmounting the open screen around the roof- 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



39 



garden are in harmony with the purity, simplicity, and dignity of 
the building, proving that Miss Rideout, the young Californian 
sculptor of these charming groups, worked in perfect sympathy 
with the architect. 

The group represented in the pediment typifies woman's work 
in the various walks of life. The central figure is full of spirit and 




DECORATIVE PANEL— "THE REPUBLIC'S WELCOME TO HER DAUGHTERS." 
Rosina Emmet Sherwood. United States. (Copyrighted.) 

charm. In one hand she holds a myrtle wreath; in the other, the 
scales of justice. On her right, we find Woman the Benefactor; 
and on her left, the Woman, the Artist and Litterateur. The 
figures are modeled in very high relief, and the whole work has an 



40 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

infinitely joyous and hopeful quality. This is equally true of the 
winged groups, which are in delightful contrast to the familiar and 
hackneyed types that serve to represent Virtue, Sacrifice, Charity, 
and the other qualities which sculptors have personified, time out 
of mind, by large, heavy, dull-looking stone women. The sculpture 
throughout the Fair is of a character that deserves a more lasting 
form than it now possesses. A large proportion of the plaster 
figures of men, women, and animals which enrich the White City 
deserve to be preserved in bronze or marble infinitely more than 
most of the sculpture which is shown in the art gallery. 

Hereafter the old charge that there is no art atmosphere in our 
country will, I think, prove a futile and groundless one. A single 
visit to the World's Fair must convince the most indifferent 
European-American that, whatever may have been the case at an 
earlier period, the country which has produced this great, harmoni- 
ous, artistic whole is not entirely lacking in art atmosphere. 

One of the pleasantest features of this building is the hospitality 
suggested throughout; the cool and quiet arcades where the visitor 
may sit and look out upon the varied scenes hourly enacted in that 
corner of the World's Fair; the roof-gardens, from which a fine 
view may be had of the distant buildings, with the shimmering lake 
beyond. Here one may dine comfortably and well, or enjoy " a 
dish of tea and talk," at the end of the long day of work and pleas- 
ure. Our building's highest mission perhaps will be to soothe, 
to rest, to refresh the great army of sight-seers who march daily 
through the Fair. 

I have heard from these birds of passage various interesting 
comments on our building. One of these I remember as particu- 
larly expressive of its influence, coming as it did from a tired 
woman, who had labored generously and ceaselessly for many 
months at her little part of the great work. " I call it the flying 
building," she said; " it seems to lift the weight off my feet when I 
look at those big angels." 

The interior decoration is as appropriate and simple as the 
exterior. Touches of gold, here and there, relieve the purity of 
the whitest building in all the White City. The Hall of Honor is 
unbroken by pillars or supports, and rises grandly to its seventy feet 
of height. It is 6jy 2 feet wide and 200 feet long. Statistics, how- 
ever, avail us but little in looking at this noble hall, and it is best to 
remember only that it is as high as our hopes for it have been. Hon- 
ored names are here written in letters of gold — the names of women 
great in art, in song, in thought, in science, in statecraft, and in liter- 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN. 

DESIGNED BY FREDERICK MACMONNIES. 

COLUMBIA, ENTHRONED, IS PROPELLED BY THE ARTS AND SCIENCES AND STEERED BY FATHER TIME. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



43 



ature. Side, by side with the sovereigns of Europe — Isabella, Eliza- 
beth, and Victoria — are the names of the workers, the seers, the 
pioneers who long ago laid the true foundation of this building. 
Some of them are living still, thank God — women whose keen eyes 




DECORATIVE PANEL— "ART, SCIENCE, AND LITERATURE." 
Lydia Emmet. United States. (Copyrighted.) 

foresaw the coming of the day that has dawned; the day of which 
John Stuart Mill said: " The women's hour has struck." 

The north tympanum of the hall is enriched by a decorative 
painting by Mrs. Frederick MacMonnies, representing the Primi- 
tive Woman. At the other end Miss Mary Cassatt presents her 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 45 

conception of Modern Woman. Mrs. MacMonnies' subject is well 
chosen and ably treated. On the extreme right we have a single 
male figure, a hunter clad in skins — he has just returned from the 
chase. A group of women and children bear away the game 
he has killed and minister to his wants. A kneeling girl crushes 
a bunch of grapes into a cup to refresh the tawny giant. In 
the middle grouping we have woman, the bearer of burdens, 
typified by a band of girls carrying water-jars. In the foreground a 
maiden bathes a laughing child in a clear stream, while a mother 
advances toward the water bearing two children in her arms. On 
the extreme left we see the sturdy daughters of the plow driving a 
yoke of milk-white oxen. A band of sowers scatters the grain in 
the new-made furrows, while one tired girl, kneeling in the fore- 
ground, drinks from a vase. The background of trees and water 
and distant land is excellently treated. The dark figures of two 
horsemen are to be seen at the extreme right. Mrs. MacMonnies' 
work is of a high order; it shows a true decorative sense, a sure 
hand, and a fresh, joyous imagination. Artistically and intellect- 
ually it is a composition which commends itself to all those who 
understand and honor the idea for which our building stands. 

The central portion of Miss Cassatt's panel shows us a group of 
young women gathering apples in a pleasant orchard. On the 
right is a band of ladies variously engaged. One is playing upon 
a stringed instrument, while another poses in one of the attitudes 
of the modern skirt-dance. On the left we have Fame, a flying 
figure, pursued by a flock of ducks and women. The border of the 
tympanum is very charming; the children quite beautifully painted. 
Both Mrs. MacMonnies and Miss Cassatt received orders for their 
work from the Executive Board of the Woman's Building. The 
two decorations were executed in Paris and sent to Chicago. 

Four large decorative panels enrich the sides of the hall. 

New England's contribution to the decoration of the Woman's 
Building is shown in one of these large panels, which illustrates the 
duties and avocations of the Pilgrim Mothers and Daughters. The 
painter, Miss Lucia Fairchild of Boston, a young artist of great 
promise, has chosen for her subject a group of women engaged in 
domestic labor. In the foreground a kneeling girl is washing 
dishes in a pool of still water; one of her sisters stands beside her 
drying a pewter basin. On the left, under the porch of a humble 
cottage, a mother stands holding an infant in her arms. A girl sits 
by her spinning-wheel, whose threads have become entangled. 
One young matron holds a distaff, while a girl beside her is stitching 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 47 

on a white garment. At a little distance a group of children sur- 
round their teacher, who, with an open book upon her knees, is 
holding school out of doors. It is the springtime of the year and 
of the nation; from the green plain stretching toward the distant 
sea the trees lift their budding branches. In the background we 
have the traditional white meeting-house with its single spire, and 
over a newly broken road a pair of oxen draw a cart laden with 
wood; the man who drives them is necessarily a very small figure 
in this large, simple composition. The whole scene breathes 
the atmosphere of that early New England which has found 
its best interpreter in Hawthorne. The harsh but not inhos- 
pitable Plymouth coast, and the hardy settlers whose courage and 
resolution laid the foundations of the New England we know 
to-day, have been sketched by the young artist with a strong hand. 
The color scheme is cool and sober; the dress and bearing of the 
women reserved, simple, and full of character. The thought behind 
the picture needs no criticism, it is an assertion of the prime duties 
of woman, the home-maker and care-taker; it is a hint full of sig- 
nificance to our day and generation, reminding us that unless the 
higher education now open to our sex makes women better and 
wiser wives and mothers, it is a failure. 

No stronger contrast to Miss Fairchild's decoration can be 
imagined than that presented by the neighboring panel, " Woman 
in Arcadia," by Amanda Brewster Sewell. The former represented 
a cool, demure springtime on the Plymouth coast. In Arcadia it 
is warm, luxurious summer. The color is rich and deep; the pair of 
half-nude girls in the foreground have a pagan loveliness; the 
distant group gathering oranges are fair as dream-women. Mrs. 
Sewell has found "the way to Arcady," and illustrates it to us very 
sympathetically. It seems quite fitting that in this great White City, 
this echo of Hellenic beauty, there should be an Arcadian corner, 
and it is not unsuitable that we should find this in the Woman 'c 
Building. 

The pair of panels which are placed opposite to those just 
described are the work of those popular painters Rosina Emmet 
Sherwood and Lydia Emmet. Mrs. Sherwood's panel shows us 
the Republic welcoming her daughters and bestowing laurel 
crowns upon them. The composition of this panel is very good, and 
the architectural detail of the background is well studied. Miss 
Emmet's companion panel is strong in the same qualities as her 
sister's. Music, art, and literature are all personified in an 
exceedingly well-arranged group of female figures. 






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BLACK AND WHITE DRAWING— "ANON COMES APRIL IN HER JOLLITY." 
Rosina Emmet Sherwood. United States. (From Harper's Magazine. Copyrighted.) 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 49 

I shall now invite the reader to take a short stroll with me 
through the principal departments of our building. We will enter 
at the northern door, pass through the loggia, and find ourselves in 
the midst of the American exhibit of applied arts. Here all is so 
excellent that we can afford to lose nothing; every case deserves 
examination. As it is impossible to speak of all the beautiful 
work exhibited by associations and individuals, let us notice that 
of the " Associated Artists," the parent society from which so many 
schools of embroidery and design have sprung. The two directions 
in which this school expresses itself are in the weaving of textiles 
and tapestries. The textiles are among the most beautiful fabrics 
that have ever been woven; they are rich in color and exquisite in 
texture. Certain effects can be produced by the weaving of silk 
which no pigment can ever give, for the silk itself has a reflective 
quality which is found in no other medium. The tapestry from 
Raphael's cartoon of " The Miraculous Draught of Fishes " is a very 
remarkable work of art, and one which stands alone in modern 
needlework. The design was photographed from the painter's 
cartoon upon the linen, and the spirit of the original is very 
perfectly preserved. 

The pottery comes next in interest to the textiles and embroid- 
eries. Nowhere is woman doing better work than in the manufact- 
ure and decoration of our native clays. We find original and 
beautiful vessels of use and ornament exhibited by many of the 
States. It is due to the Western States to say that in this branch 
of applied arts they surpass the Eastern. 

However long we linger in this section of the building, we 
leave it with regret. The impression which we carry away from 
it is that we are no longer pensioners of Europe in the matter of 
designs. To-day we have an American Scnool of Design, with a 
distinct national character of its own, and our women are to the 
fore in every one of its branches. 

Passing through the corridor we enter the main hall, where 
there is much to admire in exhibitions of art and handicraft. The 
laces, in themselves, are a gallery of exquisite design and workman- 
ship. There is no danger that the visitor will slight the Hall of 
Honor, so we will not linger here, but pass on to the southern 
pavilion. We have crossed the seas, Spain is before us; India, Ger- 
many, Austria, Belgium are upon our left; Sweden, Mexico, Italy, 
France upon the right. Two rooms of a Japanese house have been 
cunningly reproduced with the nicety and finish which character- 
ize all the work of this artistic people. The low-ceiled boudoir is 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 51 

carpeted with matting and hung with delicately tinted paper. In 
an outer room — a guest-chamber — is a raised cushion of state, on 
which the honored stranger is invited to sit (or squat). A few 
paintings hang upon the wall; a single piece of bronze, a finely 
modeled bird, rests on a lacquered stand. The inner room is sacred 
to the toilet of the lady of the house. Over a screen hang rainbow- 
hued garments enriched Avith wonderful embroideries. Lacquered 
coffers of every size and shape, tied with silk cords of different 
colors, form a picturesque substitute for our commonplace chests of 
drawers. A polished steel mirror, upon a stand, shows where the 
mistress of this dainty boudoir should sit upon a cushion to perform 
the details of her toilet. A lacquered and bronze brazier stands 
near, and a rack over which are folded fine linen towels. A multi- 
tude of fine inlaid boxes stand upon the ground near the mirror. 
Let us not pry into their secrets. The real secret of the peculiar 
charm which the Japanese women have always possessed for men 
of their own and the European nations lies in the fact that they are 
taught to be agreeable. With the Japanese, good manners rise to 
the dignity of a high art. Courtesy, gentleness, sympathy are 
cultivated with the same care and skill that this joyous, pains- 
taking people put into everything that they do. 

We must not fail to see the Japanese parlor in the second story, 
where the Japanese Commissioner has gathered together a very 
fine collection of painted and embroidered screens and hangings. 
A painting upon silk, framed in a little shrine in the end of this 
room, shows us Sei Shonagun, a learned Japanese woman who 
served the Empress Sada Ko in the tenth century of the Christian 
era. She wrote a book which is still famous, an extract from which 
we may read, in translation, together with a full description of the 
picture. Nothing brings home the real significance of the work 
collected in our building more than the statement made by the 
Japanese Woman's Commission of its organization. The report 
says: " Her Majesty the Empress of Japan, with her usual habits 
of helping any good work, especially for her own sex, most gra- 
ciously pleased with the movement, generously bestowed a large 
gift to carry on the work of the commission. Princess Mori 
assumed the duty of chairman, and asked the members, who are 
mostly ladies of high rank, to act as committees. On the 1 3th of 
May, 1892, the first meeting of the commission was held at Shiba- 
Hama-Rikyn, a pleasure palace in Tokio. Since then, twice a 
month they have held regular meetings to consider the affairs of 
the commission." 



52 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



The most important feature of the second story is the Assembly 
Hall, a large room lying on the north side of the building. It has 
a wide platform and is admirably adapted for meetings, lectures, 
and concerts. The three stained-glass windows which light the 
stage are all the work, and two of them the gifts, of Massachusetts 
women. The furniture, presented by the ladies' committee of 
Mobile, is simple and appropriate in design. A stained-glass win- 
dow opposite the platform is the work and the gift of Pennsylvania 

women. It was in this room 
that the meeting was held on 
the 30th of April, when the 
commissioners from many of 
our own States and from 
some distant countries pre- 
sented to Mrs. Palmer the 
gifts offered to the Woman's 
Building. Tokens and tid- 
ings of good-will from the 
four corners of the earth were 
generously offered and gra- 
ciously accepted. The value 
of the gifts, the nationality 
of the givers, was forgotten 
in the deep significance of 
that meeting. Woman at 
last is rousing from her long 
sleep. We of the New World 
have called out for help, for 
sympathy. From the far Ori- 
ent comes back an answer to 
our cry. The slave woman of 
the harem murmurs,"I hear!" 
The Assembly Hall and 
the Model Kitchen fill the 
whole of the northern end of 
the building. The space 
between the inner corridor 
and the outer arcade has been 
divided into eight admirably-shaped and well-lighted rooms. The 
Model American Kitchen gives an object lesson to housekeepers 
from all parts of the world. 

Passing down the corridor to the right we find Connecticut's 




WATER-COLOR PORTRAIT. 

Rosina Emmet Sherwood. United States. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



53 



room, a bright, cheerful apartment, whose simple and appropriate 
decoration we owe to Miss Sheldon of Hartford. 

We come next to the first of the two Record rooms, which on 
either side connect with the library. Here are kept the statistics 
of woman's work in many countries, which have been collected 
with such patient research. A frieze formed of panels of native 
wood, designed and carved by women from 
our different States, is an interesting feature 
of this room. 

From a purely artistic standpoint the 
library is the most important feature of the 
building, after the Hall of Honor. Its deco- 
ration has been intrusted to Mrs. Wheeler. 
As the heavy doors swing to, we find our- 
selves in a well-proportioned room, whose 
chief and most valued quality is that of 
harmony. The eyes, tired with the great 
demand which has been made upon them, 
rest gratefully upon the green and gold of 
the walls. The visitor sinks into a chair, and 
for a long time thinks of nothing but the 
pleasant coolness of the place. The room 
has a character and individuality that we 
rarely find save in the house of some esthetic 
lover of books. The beautiful dark carved- 
oak book-cases are filled to overflowing with 
books by women of all nations. Every room 
has its own climate — we know whether we 
are visiting in the arctic, the temperate, or 
the torrid zone five minutes after entering 
a strange house. Our library is in the tem- 
perate zone — the best climate for the scholar 
and the dilettante. To such a visitor there is 
no single apartment in the whole Fair where he will find himself so 
pleasantly at home. The chief decoration of this room is the ceiling 
— the work of Dora Wheeler Keith. In undertaking this arduous 
labor Mrs. Keith attacked the most difficult branch of decoration, 
and the artist is to be congratulated that she has painted what is per- 
haps the rarest thing in the whole range of art, a successful ceiling. 

The ornamentation is rich and original. A wide border of 
scroll-work forms the outer edge. Inside of this we have a very 
beautifully painted piece of drapery, enriched here and there with 




SKETCH FOR GLASS 

WINDOW. 

Mrs. Parrish. United 

States. 




CARTOON FOR MEMORIAL WINDOW. 
Helen Maitland Armstrong. United States. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 55 

bunches of lilies, which weaves itself into a sort of garland between 
the four medallions, each of which contains a symbolical figure. 
The oval wreath of lilies which encircles the central portion is a 
very beautiful and original feature of the decoration. The central 
group contains three figures. Science, a male figure, sits enthroned 
with Literature beside him, personified by a graceful woman; 
between the two stands Imagination, reconciling and binding Sci- 
ence and Literature to each other. The color scheme is cool, 
refreshing, and harmonious. In speaking of this admirable work, 
Mrs. Wheeler was heard to say: " I think it is a worthy composi- 
tion." I have heard many more extravagant phrases applied to 
this decoration by connoisseurs and critics, but none has pleased 
me so much. It is indeed worthy of the honored name both mother 
and daughter bear — a name that is identified with such a potent 
influence for high taste, serious work, and honest endeavor. Among 
the founders of the new American school of design which has done 
so much for the education of our people, there is no figure more 
striking than that of Candace Wheeler. 

Continuing our tour, we find ourselves in the room devoted to 
the exhibit of the English Training-School for Nurses. There is 
much that is valuable and interesting to study here; a wonderful 
basket trunk with compartments for caps and bandages, splints, 
bonnets, aprons, and all the other requisites for the personal com- 
fort and professional duties of a soldier in the noble army of nurses. 
The room is graced with portraits of women whose names never 
fail to arouse an emotion when they are pronounced — Florence 
Nightingale, Sister Dora, and a score of other less famous sisters of 
humanity. 

The Organization Room lies at the south end of the corridor. 
Here we may see the exhibit of over fifty associations of women. 
Opposite the library we have a suite of three rooms. The first of 
these, the Kentucky Parlor, is a very pleasant and cheerful room, 
with a flavor of the " old colonial " in its decoration and appoint- 
ments. 

We next pass into the Managers' Drawing-room, furnished, 
decorated, and maintained by the women of Cincinnati. It is a 
pleasant place to linger, and has many treasures of pottery and 
faience. 

Beyond is the California Room, famous for its redwood. The 
ceiling, doors, and wainscoting are all made of this rich, mellow 
wood, the grain of which makes delicate lines and touches of 
light and color, which the high polish brings out finely. 




SKETCH FOR WINDOW. Mary Tillinghast. United States. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



f)7 



The education which the Woman's Building furnishes is not 
received through the eye alone; the ear comes into play for a very 
important share. Every morning, at 10 o'clock, an illustrated 




PAINTED SCREI 



lecture is given in the model kitchen by Mrs. Sarah Tyson Rorer. 
One of the special subjects treated by the teacher is the preparation 
of Indian corn. The kitchen, which is maintained at the expense 



58 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

of the Illinois Ladies' Board, is really doing a missionary work. 
Mrs. Rorer maintains that educated cooking is as much a science as 
chemistry, and she thoroughly believes in the saying that " the 
inventor of a new and wholesome dish is of greater value to his 
fellow-creatures than the discoverer of a new planet." Of all the 
pleasant features of our building, I have found nothing more inter- 
esting than these sessions with Mrs. Rorer. To hear the mysteries 
of baking, roasting, and boiling intelligently explained, and to 
watch at the same time the skillful preparation of a dainty dish, is a 
pleasant and instructive occupation. The infinite variety of forms 
into which the Indian corn can be transmuted by an intelligent 
cook was a revelation to most of Mrs. Rorer's hearers. 

Another pleasant educational exhibit of a similar nature is to 
be found in the garden cafe, where Mrs. Riley, a graduate of the 
Boston Cooking School, provides home cooking of the most appetiz- 
ing description for the hungry sight- seer, but opens her kitchen for 
public inspection every afternoon for an hour. The restaurant 
serves a double purpose — it feeds the hungry visitor and educates 
the inquiring mind of the housekeeper. The contrast between 
this well-ordered establishment, where the dishes are properly 
prepared and neatly served, and some of the other restaurants of 
the Fair is very striking. Nowhere is the tired man or woman 
so well treated and fed as in our model lunch-room. 

The Committee of Congresses, of which Mrs. James P. Eagle is 
chairman, has prepared a feast of reason, in which the public is 
invited to participate. Either in the morning or the afternoon of 
each day the Assembly Room in the Woman's Building will furnish 
an amusement or lecture, which, like all the other matters connected 
with our building, is given to the public gratis. Music has an 
honored place in our temple. One afternoon of every week Mr. 
Theodore Thomas and his well-trained orchestra give a concert of 
popular classical music; it may be imagined that there is little room 
to spare in the Assembly Hall on these occasions. Once in every 
two weeks concerts are given by amateur musicians from different 
parts of the country. The method pursued in securing the per- 
formers is extremely good. The candidates first pass an examin- 
ation in their own State, and then a second at Chicago before a 
jury of experts appointed by Mr. Thomas. A diploma will be 
awarded to the musicians who take part in these amateur concerts. 
In this way the high standard of talent desired has been attained. 
Women's musical clubs have been invited to participate, and, 
thanks to the energy of Mrs. Francis B. Clarke, chairman of the 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



m 



Committee of Music, and of Mrs. Thomas, who have had this 
branch of the work in charge, a musical congress has been arranged 
which promises to be one of the most interesting features of the 
Exposition. 

Ceylon's contribution is most precious. She sends us not only 
the work of her people's hands but a band of her citizens. The 
Ceylon pavilion has two 
departments ; one repre- 
senting a temple, the 
other a resting-place 
near the temple. The 
beautifully carved pil- 
lars and arches of ebony 
are constantly sur- 
rounded by a group of 
admirers. The temple is 
adorned by a painting 
of Buddha and a mar- 
riage scene from a popu- 
lar romance. 

The hospitality of 
the Woman's Building ! 
I must always come back 
to that. One day I was 
given, on entering, a 
fresh j asmine fl o w e r 
that had bloomed in 
Texas ; a thousand were 
distributed that morn- 
ing, thanks to the gen- 
erosity of the women of 
Galveston. One after- 
noon when I crept into 
this haven, wearied from 
the feast of sight and 
sound, a slender, dusky- 
skinned Ceylonese offered me a cup of fragrant tea. The picturesque 
costumes, the refinement and grace of these silent servitors, their del- 
icate hands and refined, intelligent faces make a deeper impression 
than the richest of the embroideries or the most artistic of the jewels 
shown in their pavilion. Man is more interesting than the noblest 
of his works. It is for their testimony of human skill, patience, and 




embroidery. pupils of the house of the 
Legion of Honor. France. 



60 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



industry that we value the rare works of art and handicraft 
gathered in our building. Nowhere in the Exposition can we find 
so complete a history of the industries of the human race as in the 
Woman's Building; beginning with women's work in savagery 
(a very wonderful collection of which is to be seen in the Scientific 
Room) and ending with a modern woman's idea of that primitive 
woman as shown by Mrs. MacMonnies in her decoration. We thus 
see in one department the tools of the savage woman, and in 

another the representation of their use. 
Judging by her handicraft, the primitive 
woman worked earnestly and well. With 
here and there a few brilliant exceptions, 
the work of modern women in the higher 
fields of art has been less earnest, less 
thorough, than the work of these savage 
women. The religions of the Orient, 
which teach that man only is capable of 
civilization, and have made woman man's 
slave, are partly responsible for the long 
period of triviality in women's work. The 
savage woman is a dignified figure. On 
her falls the burden of weaving and 
basket-making, of sowing and reaping, of 
feeding and clothing her family. The 
legacy she has left us is infinitely precious 
and touching. Orientalism is responsible 
for the idea that woman is the inferior 
of man, and when I hear women lightly 
professing a belief in Buddhism, I always 
feel like reminding them that one of the 
fundamental ideas of that religion is that 
the female principle in the universe is the 
principle of evil. To-day Christianity has 
only just begun, after nineteen hundred years, to overcome this 
paralyzing idea of the inferiority of our sex. Fifteen years ago, nay 
ten years ago, I might almost say five, the women artists of Europe 
and of America, while showing a great deal of talent, betrayed a 
lack of power, conscience, and persistence in their work. It had 
the qualities of imagination, of sweetness, of romance, and of color, 
but it lacked the sterner qualities of technique which only the 
severest study, the most scrupulous patience, the quality which I 
can perhaps best designate as the artistic conscience, can give. The 




SKETCH FOR WINDOW. 

Mrs. J. B. Weston. United 

States. 




YOUNG GIRL BATHING. Mme. Leon Borta.\.£. France. 



62 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



old idea that woman's work in the higher fields is something 
phenomenal obtained both with the critics and with the women 
workers themselves. To-day the struggle for bread has become so 
fierce that no allowance is made for sex. We are at the dawn of a 
new era, when woman's labor shall be judged by the same inflex- 
ible standard of excellence as man's. Surely we may be excused 
if we have shown a little too much enthusiasm on this subject, for 
the gain is an immense one, not to woman alone, but to the whole 
race. There is no gain without a corresponding loss. There is 
no advance in which something is not left behind. In our country 

woman has always been a privi- 
leged person ; and while we hold 
that rights are higher than privi- 
leges, it can not be denied that it is 
a little trying to see those privileges 
steadily diminishing; but it has now 
become a question of necessity, not 
of choice. The results of our pub- 
lic-school system are shown in the 
enormous number of men who are 
fitted for both the higher and lower 
branches of intellectual labor. A 
few months ago a gentleman in 
New York advertised in the same 
paper for a secretary and a butler. 
Five hundred applicants appeared 
for the secretaryship and two for 
the place of the butler. Competi- 
tion in brain labor is so fierce, the 
price it secures so small, that to-day 
a large proportion of our artists, 
architects, literary and professional men find it impossible to sup- 
port their families in the position to which their education entities 
them. Every year it is becoming more expensive to live the life 
of cultivated people. The price of bread and meat and coal may 
be reduced as the demand for these articles increases, but the price 
of the luxuries and the graces of life increases in an exact ratio 
with the increase of population. A professional man, the son of a 
professional man, is too often faced with this problem: " How can 
I give my children as good an education as I myself received, when 
my income is only as large as my father's was and the expenses 




WATER-COLOR PORTRAIT. 

Rosina Emmet Sherwood. 
United States. (Copyrighted.) 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



63 



of education have doubled?" The wife, the sister, or the daughter 
is called in council. It is quite evident to her that the man can 
not support his wife and his children as they should be sup- 
ported, and the family must either take a lower position in the 
social scale, or, as the only other alternative, the women must 
contribute to the expenses of the household. It is this economic 
necessity which has forced the vast army of women workers into 
the higher fields of labor. 

Now that we have wandered through the pleasant arcades, the 
quiet library, the busy, energetic Hall of Honor, let us leave the 
Woman's Building and the " White City," go down to the shore of 
the lake, look out over its changeful waters, and think. What does 
it all amount to? Palaces of 
marble and brick crumble away 
and leave no sign to show where 
they have stood, and this mock- 
marble city is as evanescent as 
a dream. With that curious 
commercial sense which is per- 
haps our most salient national 
characteristic, many hundreds 
of people have asked the same 
question: " Does it pay?" Of 
no department in the whole Ex- 
position has there been so much 
doubt expressed on this point as 
of the Woman's Building. It has 
had its enemies from the very 
hour of its inception ; honest and 
dishonest enemies. It is only the former with which we must concern 
ourselves. These have pointed out the very great outlay of time, 
strength, and money which have gone to make up the harmonious 
whole; they have pointed out that a great number of the best women 
workers have elected to exhibit the fruits of their labor side by 
side with that of their brothers. These critics ask: " Is it not unfair 
to show as women's work what is only a partial representation of 
it? " The answer to this objection lies in the fact that the building 
is among the most interesting features of the Fair. It has never 
undertaken to show all, or half, that woman is doing. Such an 
exhibit would be impossible, even were it housed in so vast a 
structure as the Palace of the Liberal Arts. From the first, the 
idea has been held by those in authority that the building's mission 




"THE WOOD DOVE." 
Mary Hallock Foote. United States. 
(By permission of the Century Company- 
Copyrighted.) 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 




SKETCH FOR WINDOW. 
V. Emmet, United States. (Copyrighted.) 



was more moral than 
material. It was de- 
signed to represent 
chiefly that part of 
woman's labor which 
finds no place in the 
other departments of 
the Fair. Perhaps the 
most valuable thing it 
has accomplished is 
the bringing together 
of women from the 
most distant parts of 
the world. Who can 
foretell how potent an 
influence for the unity 
of the nations may 
spring from this meet- 
ing of the Slav and the 
Teuton, the Celt and 
the Mongol, the Gaul 
and the Latin, the 
Greek and the Anglo- 
Saxon? From the days 
of Helen, women have 
been accounted a cause 
for strife between men 
and nations. "Oherchez 
la femme" is the old 
saying whenever there 
is trouble afoot. If 
this is true, nothing 
can be so important 
for the peace of the 
world as that these 
prime causes of differ- 
ence among men 
should become friends 
and allies. If the three 
goddesses had handed 
back the apple to Paris 
and said " Thank you," 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 65 

a mighty pother of arms might have been saved and the greatest 
poem in the world lost. In our modern contest, each participant 
strives not to take from but to give to her sisters the palm. In 
many of the other departments of the Fair there has been an infinite 
amount of political friction. One country will not exhibit because 
our duties are unjust, another will put itself to very little trouble 
for us because it has so little commercial relation with our own. 
We find nothing of this in the Woman's Building. We find a 
singleness of purpose which is truly impressive. The queens of 
England, of Spain, and of Italy take part in our enterprise; the 
empresses of Japan and of Russia testify their interest; the wife of 
the president of the French Republic lends us her countenance, 
and the great ladies of Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Den- 
mark, Russia, Austria, and all the other nations represented in 
our building have put their hands to our work. 

The Queen of England, her daughters, and her granddaughters 
send us their handiwork. Not only have the great ladies lent us 
their countenance, but the work-women all over the world have 
helped to enrich our building. In the Spanish section we notice 
the neatly rolled cigarettes of the cigarette-makers and the nets of 
the fisher-wives lying near the rich embroideries of the nuns, the 
exquisite missals from the convent schools, the paintings and writ- 
ings of royal amateurs. The insane women of a Pennsylvania 
almshouse make a contribution of neatly embroidered linen 
to our applied arts. The little children of the charity schools 
of Paris send us drawings and maps of so exquisite a workmanship 
that it is difficult to realize that the signatures, " Rachel, aged 13," 
and " Helene, aged 14," belong to their authors. 

Many lessons may be learned at the World's Fair, and many 
in the Woman's Building; the most important of these is the unity 
of human interests. No man or woman who has truly entered into 
the life of the White City, which is not Chicago's, nor the United 
States', nor the Americas', but the world's city, can ever again be 
satisfied with mere city or State citizenship. In this miniature 
world we have tasted world's citizenship, we have learned that 
nothing that is not for the good of humanity at large can benefit 
us or our country. 

Maud Howe Elliott. 



WOMAN IN ART. 

NOT unreasonable and as capable of proof as any other legend 
about the matter is this, that the first artist was not he who 
" stayed by the tents with the women;" neither Cleanthes, 
nor Telephanes, but rather was it some happy mother, dreaming 
dreams by a river, watching the shadows of leaves and flowers come 
and go, making garments for her man-child, her desire being to her 
lord. And the shadows of the leaves and flowers fell upon the 
garments, and then the artist-soul was born, and designed quaint 
patterns from them to beautify the robe. Penelope drew her own 
•designs upon the shroud she broidered for old Laertes, and the naive 
drawing of the Bayeux tapestry was from Queen Mathilde's unac- 
customed hand, for the men had gone forth to do battle. 

Ariosto's much-quoted lines, " Women have risen to high excel- 
lence in every art whereto they give their care," is proven in a 
long line of illustrious women who have been artists, beginning 
with Helena, daughter of Timon of Egypt, and continuing to our 
own Mary Cassatt. 

From the beginning there have always been those who have 
.stepped from out the ranks of women and stood beside the men. 

It is no new thing that they should teach, or paint, or write; 
and if as yet in art there are none who are equal with the masters, 
they stand immediately behind, unafraid, biding their time, for " art 
happens," and one day Apollo will find one of our own sex to smile 
npon, and these will walk with the chosen one, who will be of the 
few who live for all time. 

It is the fashion to deny women originality. Art is but an 
imitation, and among the great men of our time, who are they 
whose inspiration is far to seek? It is a long time ago since the 
wisest man said: 

" There is nothing new under the sun." 

Among the ancients, Pliny mentions many women painters who 
"were famous. 

Helena, daughter of Timon of Egypt, was living in the year 

(67) 



68 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

400 B. C. Of her only recorded work, " The Battle of Issus," there 
is a mosaic reproduction at Naples. 

Anaxandra, daughter of Nealces of Cicyon, lived in Egypt,. 
200 B. C. 

Aristarette was the daughter and pupil of Nearchus. She was 
famed for her portrait of Esculapius. 

Of the women of our own era, the earliest of whom we have knowl- 
edge is Margareta Van Eyck, born in 1370, sister and fellow-worker 
of the master Van Eyck; and somewhere it is written how she 
helped to perfect the method of painting with oils. Of her work 
there is here and there in the world somewhat for the curious 
expert to discover. In the National Gallery of London we may 
see a Madonna and Child by Margareta, and, most interesting of 
all, the famous Bedford Missal, now in the Bibliotheque Nationale 
at Paris. 

Among the women of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth 
centuries, we have Saint Catherine of Bologna, the beauty of whose 
life was equaled by the beauty of her missal painting, and Maria de 
Abarca, a distinguished portrait painter, even at a time when the 
Master of Madrid raised Spanish art to its highest. 

Sophonisba Angosciolo of Cremona was another celebrated 
portrait and genre painter. She was invited to Spain by Philip II. y 
the great art patron of his time. She painted the portrait of Queen 
Isabella to the entire satisfaction of Pius IV., to whom the king 
presented it. Her pictures are to be found in many collections,, 
and her portraits of herself show her to have been both beautiful 
and clever. 

Mention should be made of Artemisia Gentileschi, Catherine 
Ginassi, Paladini, Teodora Danti, Coriolano, Veronica Fontana, 
Suor Plantilla Nelli (whom Vasari extols), Diana Ghisi, Isabella 
Parasole, Agnese Dolci (daughter of Carlo Dolci), and Elizabetta 
Sirani, whose beautiful Madonna and Child is one of the treasures 
of the gallery at Bologna. 

Looking from the south to the north, we find Sabina Stienbach. 
What a proud moment it must have been for her when the master 
Diirer purchased from her a plattlein illuminirt, ein salvator — 
"which was a wonder." 

Maria Merian was also a German. Her miniatures have seldom 
been equaled for beauty and delicacy of color. In the British 
Museum are two volumes containing her drawings of insects and 
plants, which were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane for five guineas 
a drawing. 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 
STATUE OF COLUMBUS AT THE EASTERN ENTRANCE OF THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. 
Joint work of Miss Mary t. Lawrence and Mr. St. Gaudens. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



71 



Then there was Anne Killegrew, of whom Dryden wrote she — 

* * " perfectly could represent 
The shape, the face with every lineament." 

She was also — 

" A grace for beauty, a muse for wit." 

Caroline Watson's engravings are very fine, and compare favor- 
ably with her contemporary, Bartolozzi's. 

Madam Vigee-Lebrun's portraits are all charming, some of them 
great, and, as some one has recently said, " preserve to us the 
thoughts and aspirations of the women of 1775- 1789." 

Angelica KaufTman — Miss Angel, as the English called her — 
is familiar to all the world. Every honor that it was possible to 




SUGGESTION FOR REREDOS. Mrs. Kenyon Cox. United States. 

bestow upon an artist was hers. From praising her work too much 
the world has come to praising it too little, but it is certain that for 
her time her pictures were remarkable. Her etchings are consid- 
ered very fine, and are much sought after. 

It is impossible in so little space to tell of all the famous women 
painters and their achievements — women whose works are precious 
to the cognoscenti, if not household words to " the one who wanders 
about." 

One of the many interesting exhibits in the Woman's Building 
is a comprehensive collection of etchings and engravings. It 
includes examples of the earliest work of women in this field, 
beginning with that of Marie di Medicis and Diana Ghisi, and 
ending with the admirable productions of Caroline Watson, Mary 
Cassatt, Louise Abbema, Mrs. Moran, Mrs. Getcher, and Mme. 
Bracquemond. 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



Women painters have always excelled in portraiture, certainly 
the most difficult, if not the highest, branch of art. It is an odd 
thing too that art finds its best expression now in the north, 
among the women as among the men. To go as far north as 
possible, the number of Swedish and Norwegian women who have 
won honors in France far outranks that of any other nation. 

No matter how much one claims for the women who have lived, 
for the women who now live one can claim more. Rosa Bonheur 

has painted pictures which 
entitle her to the high 
position which she occu- 
pies. Marie Cazin, in both 
sculpture and painting, 
has achieved high distinc- 
tion. Virginie Demont- 
Breton is hardly less dis- 
tinguished in art than her 
illustrious father. A Ger- 
man, Dora Hitz, is found 
worthy to be a member of 
the fastidious " Champ-de- 
Mars," while Alix d'Anet- 
han, a Belgian, is also a 
member of this exacting 
society. Some of the best 
work in the last exhibition 
of this same Societe Nation- 
ale was contributed by 
Marie Breslau, a Swiss, a 
member of the society 
from the time of its or- 
ganization in 1890. 
A famous Danish woman 
is Anna Archer. Emma Lowstadt Chadwick is a Swede whom we 
wish we might claim, since she is the wife of an American. Anna 
Bilinska is a Pole.* 

In England there are many women painters who rank quite 
above the average Englishman. Mrs. Stanhope Forbes, whom we 
would also like to claim, since she began her art career in the 
schools of the New York Art League, paints more beautiful pict- 

1 * An interesting picture by that remarkable young Russian, Marie Bashkirtseff, 
may be seen among the French pictures in the Woman's Building. — [Ed.] 




PORTRAIT SKETCH. 

Allegra Egglestone. United States. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



73 



aires than those of her very talented husband, while technically 
her work is as good as his. 

But Ave would give most praise to the work of our own women, 
for to their Anglo-Saxon temperament they add a Gaelic ability. 




OIL PAINTING— " MORNING PRAYER." C. E. FISCHER. GERMANY. 

To-day the American woman enters every art and every industry, 
and enters it successfully. 

Some time ago a master of the Art Students' League of New 
York, on being questioned as to whether women students did good 
work, said the average of excellence among the women was much 



74 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



higher than among the men; that he was continually being sur- 
prised by their perseverance and originality. This might mean 
little, since woman is quicker to " arrive," but it shows that at any 
rate her spirit is modern and diligent. 

In France the first women to enter a life-class with men were 
two Americans, and at the time, though it caused much talk, they 
were admired for it. They held that if they were to compete with 




OIL PAINTING— "MARS AND VENUS." POPPE LUDERITZ. GERMANY. 



men, they must have the same advantages; they must work with 
them, be subject to their criticism, treated as comrades; and they 
were. They held their own and wore " unspotted raiment." 

Two women have been chosen to paint each a very important 
decoration for the Woman's Building at Chicago — Miss Cassatt and 
Mrs. MacMonnies. Miss Cassatt is easily the best of our women 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



/.) 



painters. Her work is probably better known to those intimately 
connected with art than to the general public. She is of the 
school of Degas, Whistler, and Monet, and holds that a ballet- 
girl by Degas may be as religious as a saint by Puvis de Chavannes. 
She would call Degas master, but that her manner of expres- 
sion has been arrived at independently of him. A set of her 
etchings has been purchased for the Luxembourg, and the 
French Government invited her to present it with a picture, an 
honor which falls to few, and which it was characteristic of 
Miss Cassatt to decline. Her " Essais Japonais " are what their 
title indicates, and are a revelation of strong line and exquisite 




OIL PAINTING— "DEATH OF MIGNON." ADRIENNE Potting. AUSTRIA. 

color. Her decoration in Chicago will no doubt be caviar to those 
who may not see the religion in Degas, but to the catholic lover 
of art it appeals strongly. 

Mrs. MacMonnies is a painter with a delightful color sense. It 
might seem rash that so young a painter should have been given, 
and that she should undertake, so grave a work. The decoration,, 
which is sixty feet long, has been carried to a successful completion, 



76 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

and proves that the commendation she received from such men as 
Puvis de Chavannes and Cazin was not undeserved. 

The only picture by a woman ever purchased by the trustees of 
the Chantry Bequest Fund for the South Kensington Museum was 
painted by an American, Mrs. Anna Lea Merritt, and it may be 
interesting to know that the oil and water-color copies of Turner's 
pictures given to the students of the South Kensington schools to 
copy from are by May Alcott Nierken, an American who died 
in 1879.* 

At the last annual exhibition of the Water Color Society in New 
York a woman, Sara C. Sears, was given, for the first time, the 
prize for the best picture. The justness of the award was apparent 
to all. 

To a woman should have been given, if justice were unalterable, 
not only the prize for the best picture by a woman, but also the 
prize for the best picture, irrespective of sex, seen at the recent exhi- 
bition of the New York Academy. 

In the short space allotted to woman in art, it is impossible to 
mention even a few of the best of our women artists without seem- 
ing invidious, there are among us so many women artists whose 
work is serious and fine. We prefer that they should speak for 
themselves, as surely they have an opportunity of doing in Chicago. 

To that critic who is to come, when the dragon of bad art 
{" which is the Devil and Satan ") is bound for a thousand years, 
" and a seal is set upon him that he should deceive the nations no 
more," and the millennium of great American art is come, we com- 
mend our women artists, for no small part will they contribute ; 
and we hope the dawn of that great day will be in Chicago. 

S. T. Hallowell. 

* Mrs. Nierken was the sister of Louisa Alcott, and the original of the character 
of Beth in " Little Women." 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE WESTERN FACADE OF THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING, 

Looking toward the North. 




:!=. ?.,.-.•■ ■ 



APPLIED ARTS IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 

A NOTICE of the Applied Arts in the Woman's Building must 
begin with the specimens of antique art which belong to the 
collections of different countries in what is called the 
Foreign Section — exhibits which comprise the arts of embroidery, 
fan-painting, jewelry, silverware, and the exclusively feminine 
art of lace-making. 

The collection of Queen Margherita covers not only the long 
history of the lace-making art of Italy, but that of all lace-making 
countries as well, while in other foreign exhibits are found eccle- 
siastical and antique embroideries of all nations, treasures of all 
countries, centuries, epochs, and schools. Not gleanings, but selec- 
tions from the precious arts of all countries are here, since among 
these it is always the most valuable, the costliest, the most difficult 
of accomplishment, which receives the care of succeeding genera- 
tions, and survives for the inspiration, guidance, and standard of 
mankind. It is wonderful that such treasures, under even the most 
careful convoyance, should have floated down the centuries and 
been allowed to drift to a country so far removed and undreamed of 
when some of them were created. 

But it is not alone from foreign countries that these riches are 
gathered. An American collection, owned and loaned by citizens 
of New York, and collected by the New York State Board of 
Women Managers, is shown in the west gallery of the Rotunda. It 
does not by any means represent the wealth of curios and works of 
art possessed in this country, or even in New York City alone, but 
enough is shown to illustrate the very best periods of creative art, 
and to prove that if these private treasures could be occasionally 
gathered into public exhibitions, students and artists need not 
cross the great barrier of the sea to study examples of ancient 
knowledge and skill. 

In passing from the best work of the past to that of to-day, and 
especially to that which is exclusively the work of the women of 
to-day, we must remember that, as far as practice is concerned, we 
are considering a new birth, a revival of ancient handcrafts, instead 

(79) 




WALL PANEL. ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART EMBROIDERY, VIENNA. AUSTRIA. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 81 

of a continuous exercise of them; and not only a revival, but an 
adaptation of them to new circumstances. Some of these arts had 
been practically dead for a hundred years. This consideration, 
while accounting for less exact execution, adds interest to the sub- 
ject in showing the greater breadth given to every form of art by 
the modern diffusion of wealth, and possible gratification of taste in 
the individual. While the variety of direction is narrowed by the 
exhibits being exclusively the work of women, enough in all lines 
is shown to cause surprise even in this particular; since few are 
aware how much artistic labor is performed by women in the new 
directions of designing, cutting, leading, and painting of stained 
glass, of designs for book-making, both covers and illustrations; of 
designs for textiles and wall-hangings, drawing and modeling for 
silver-work, and in many other directions absolutely new to women. 
This is seen not only in the American Section, but in those of 
England, France, and Germany. 

Those who believe in the application of the broadest and most 
thorough art-knowledge to mechanical processes have looked for- 
ward with apprehension to a collection of the work of women 
offered for competition and for the inspection of an art-loving world. 

The exhibits of the Woman's Building are, however, entirely 
reassuring, and go to show, not only that art is a heritage common 
to both man and woman, but that both general and particular study 
have gone to the accomplishment of fine results. In examples of 
stained glass it is especially noticeable that simplicity and strength 
characterize the exhibits, and that the necessities and advantages 
of the art are well understood. Very few of the examples suggest 
the amateur gloss of the woman painter; in fact the most of it 
shows the result of careful study in a special direction, and an 
intention of mastery of the art as a profession. Certainly no one 
looking at some of these beautiful examples would characterize 
them as effeminate or weak. They are shown in a pavilion in the 
American Section, as well as in the Assembly Room, the California 
Room, and the Record rooms. 

The embroidery exhibited by the Societies of Decorative Art 
and the Exchanges from many of our cities is of so high an order, 
that even those most familiar with the subject can hardly fail to be 
surprised with the very large amount of first-rate work exposed. 
There is no single specimen of embroidery which proves more con- 
clusively that needlework is a form of artistic expression than the 
very remarkable piece of ecclesiastical embroidery, from that 
wonderful design of William Blake's, illustrating the lines: " When 



82 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy." The design was photographed directly from the etching upon 
the linen, the entire surface of which is covered with Kensington 
stitchery of the most curious blending. The picture is one of Blake's 
most beautiful creations. The four figures with raised arms, typify- 
ing the stars, are partially clad in a drapery which seems to grow 
from the body as a garment of flesh. This curious idea is rendered 
even more fully apparent in the embroidery than in the original etch- 
ing, as the color helps to produce this very original effect. The devo- 
tional spirit of the artist has been perfectly preserved, and it is not too 
much to say that this piece of needlework has an inspirational quality. 




EMBROIDERED LANDSCAPE- "APPLE BLOSSOM TIME." A. J. Peters. United States. 

The beginning of the modern American school of needlework 
dates from the exhibit of the Kensington school at our Centennial, 
seventeen years ago. Before that time, it can not be said to 
have had a truly national existence. To-day the American school 
stands foremost in originality of design, and in breadth of thought 
and method. Certain processes which belong to the oldest ori- 
ental embroidery, such as a combination of applique and embroid- 
ery, which were ignored by the English school as being irregular, 
have been adopted by individuals among us, and have produced 
most wonderfully artistic results. A noticeable feature of the 
American school is that its followers seize upon every means of 
expression, and use the common domestic darning stitch, or any 




REPRODUCTION OF A LOUIS XV. WINDOW. 

Executed for President Carnot. Embroidered by Mlle. Berthe Floury, Mlle. 

Eugenie Fritman, Mme. Dubor. France. 



84 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



other needlework stitch, to produce a desired effect; very much as 
a sculptor may pick up and use any bit of wood, or his own thumb, 
as a modeling tool, rather than the neatly turned instruments of 
his trade. 

The color sense which distinguishes our people is found as 
much in the embroiderers as with the painters. Both the English 
and our own embroiderers surpass the European and the orientals in 
this respect. As far as pure technique goes, the Turkish Com- 
passionate Fund shows the best work exhibited. The workers 

have the advantage of 
the inherited skill, 
which surpasses all 
other, and are directed 
in the use of color by 
English taste. Sweden 
sends us some fine ex- 
amples, and France 
shows admirable work, 
but it is among our own 
women that we find the 
highest grade of em- 
broidery. The produc- 
tions of the Americans 
are scholarly, but not 
academic. They are 
full of fresh originality, 
and the motto of our 
Jjfjjf needlewomen seems to 
design for carpet. be that they must use 

LUCY W. VALENTINE. UNITED STATES. ^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 

tofore governed their art, but that they must not be hampered 
by them in their own fresh, spontaneous growth. 

In the great American revival of stained glass, our women are 
doing much creditable work. Many of the best firms, including 
that of Tiffany, employ women designers, who have met with very 
great success. Fifteen years ago, no American manufacturer 
thought of buying an American design for his carpet, or wall- 
paper, or textile. The usual thing to do was to buy a yard of 
French or English material, and reproduce its color and design. 
To-day the manufacturers all agree that the most popular designs 
they can furnish are made by our native designers, who are, to a 
very large extent, women. In the exhibit of the Pratt Institute, 




IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



85 



very fine work in the designs of wall-paper and silk may be seen. 
Several of these have won prizes. This exhibit is well worth 
studying, for, while this institute is in its first year, many of its 
students are among our most skillful young designers. 

In the exhibits of the various American ceramic clubs, 
societies, and leagues, the excellence of technique, as well as 
the variety and amount of work in this branch of art, is a 
genuine surprise. It ™_^_ 
is very rich in porce- g 
lains, following 
Sevre and Dresden 
styles, but curiously 
lacking in the dash 
and freedom of mod- 
ern French china 
painting. This 
seems to indicate 
that painters pos- 
sessing force and 
originality find more 
congenial directions 
for their efforts. 
Exact skill, fineness 
of execution, and 
clever specimens of 
miniature art are far 
in excess of instances 
of color effect or 
original design, and 
there is as yet no 
foreshadowing of a 
distinctively Ameri- 
can school of china 
decoration. This is 
the more remark- 
able in the face of 
the evident popularity of the art, and the wide extent of its 
practice. 

There are exquisitely painted specimens which come from 
places remote from centers of art, places where the student and 
artist must depend for educational influences entirely upon books 
or art publications. This undoubtedly retards the development 




DESIGN FOR WALL PAPER. 
Anna Lee, United States. 



86 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



resulting from emulation, while it fosters the excellencies of 
technique. 

American china decoration is not as wide in its scope as either 
the modern French or English schools, and certainly has not given 
us what we have a right to expect from so much and such excellent 
practice, namely, a development of design and method which shall 
be as characteristic of American thought as is shown in manufact- 
ure of silver and other metals, in embroideries, in illustration of 
literature, in design for textiles and wall-hangings, and in other 




FANS. Exhibited by E. Buissot. France. 

directions of applied art. The one original development is that of 
the Rookwood pottery, exquisite specimens of which are to be seen 
in the Cincinnati Room. The glazes and colors, the lustrousness, 
the almost iridescent shadings place this ware very high in the 
history of modern production. 

In book-covers and illustrations the largest number belongs to 
the exhibit of the applied arts of New York, Boston, and Phila- 
delphia. It is noticeable and delightful that some of the book- 
covers exhibited are not merely copies or imitations of those of 
any style or period preeminent in the art of book-binding, but, 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



87 



while showing a wide knowledge of previous accomplishments in 
tljis line, and a familiarity with the old masters of the art, there 
is often a clever reference to the subject-matter of the book 
in the decorative treatment of the cover. For instance, the 
attractive outside of a book called " A Girl's Life Eighty Years 
Ago " shows the design and method of a sampler of the same period, 
lettering and borders appearing in the small block-work of the 
cross-stitch in the red and black sewing-silks peculiar to sampler 
work. 

There are many others which illustrate very clearly the point 
that thought should be given not only to the art of the cover, but 
to its connection with the 
book itself, and indicate 
that the library of modern 
books will soon be more 
interesting from the out- 
side than even the most 
classic use of leather and 
tooling could make it. An 
appropriate cover is like an 
open door into a pleasant 
interior, or like the skin of 
fruit which indicates its 
kind, as the color of the 
orange invites one to the 
flavor of the orange. 

But while book-covers 
are so interesting from a 
book-lover's point of view, 
the large collection of book illustrations appeal to book-lovers 
and lovers of all good art. Many prominent publishers have con- 
tributed to this collection, and illustrations are shown in black 
and white, in water-colors, and in pen-drawings for many recent 
publications. 

There is enough here to show more than the average excellence 
of the art of illustration as it stands to-day, not only in America 
but in all countries. There is no one great work which is like a 
monument placed at the highest point the art has reached, but 
there are many single pictures which are delightful, showing not 
only power of characterization and expression of sentiment, but 
admirable composition and draughtsmanship. 

Candace Wheeler. 




DRAGON PLATE. 
Parsons & Brown. United States. 




WATER-COLOR — DECORATIVE PANEL. Madelaine Lemaire. France. 



WOMEN ILLUSTRATORS. 




CONTRASTING the Columbian Exposition witn our Centen- 
nial, the thoughtful observer is impressed with the great 
advance in art sentiment, in all phases of its expression, 
since that time. 

Women have not been left behind in the march of events, and 
that their advance along the lines of progress and culture has been 
phenomenal is the only conclusion that can be arrived at after 

studying the subject. If this 
be true, speaking generally 
— and the most casual ob- 
server will hardly deny the 
statement — it is particularly 
pertinent in regard to their 
hold on art. 

There is no branch of 
art that shows more conclu- 
sively the higher standards 
demanded from its devotees 
among all classes of peo- 
ple than illustration. About 
twenty years ago, we could 
count on the fingers of one hand all the women seriously engaged in 
this work ; nor was it until the advent of Mrs. Mary Hallock Foote in 
the field, as the illustrator of her own charming stories, that illus- 
tration seemed to present an opening for women. Having obtained 
an entering wedge, they were not long in availing themselves of 
their opportunity, and now it is an acknowledged fact that any 
woman possessing the requisite talent, training, and practical expe- 
rience in working for reproduction, is assured a profitable return 
for her labor. The feminine mind has ceased to view a profes- 
sional career as a thing of a few years only, a mere incident in her 
life to bridge over some financial crisis, or gratify a whim; nor is 
she following art in a dilettante spirit. She enters our schools and 

(89) 



"THE LETTER OF RESIGNATION." 

Mary Hallock Foote, United States. 

By permission of the Century Co. 

(Copyrighted.) 



90 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



studios with a determination to learn all she possibly can from 
steady, grinding, academic work, and from her teachers. To this 
end she spends years in the up-hill, uninteresting pursuit of train- 
ing the eye to a sense of proportion and construction before she 

attempts really serious 
work. She has learned to 
"wait with all her might." 
If there is one character- 
istic beyond another that 
the average American 
woman possesses, it is an 
"instinct for expansion." 
She has an unquenchable 
thirst for information, a 
love of knowledge for its 
own sake ; this actuating 
impulse has resulted in her 
development in all direc- 
tions. If we consider Mrs. 
Foote the pioneer as an 
artist illustrator, it seems 
incredible that, considering 
the comparatively few years 
her drawings have been 
before the public, there 
should be so many illustra- 
tors to dispute the field with 
her. Let us take, for in- 
stance, Dora Wheeler Keith, 
whose figure-work shows a 
grace of line and sense of 
balance indicating a strong 
decorative tendency, and an 
insight into the realm of 
fanciful creation. Rosina 
E. Sherwood's illustrating 
possesses solid qualities 
and evidences of versatility in handling and subject, her draw- 
ings ranging from purely imaginative creations to the delin- 
eation of ultra-fashionable life. Rhoda Holmes Nicholls stands at 
the very head and front as a painter in water-colors, and is the 
recipient of medals both here and abroad. Though an English 




IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



91 




woman by birth and training, she has found in America her 
greatest success. A strong sense of the picturesque, good draughts- 
manship, and an unerring handling of her medium, characterize 
her illustrative work. 

Philadelphia is justly proud of 
Alice Barber Stephens. She has 
marked ability, a general all-round 
capacity for grasping the salient 
point in a story, and illustrating it 
sympathetically. 

The pen-drawings of Allegra 
Eggleston are well " understood;" 
they show careful training and 
individuality of style. Her por- 
trait work with the pen is particu- 
larly clever. 

Lydia Field Emmet is in her 
illustrated page from nursery happiest vein in depicting children. 
receipts. She is so successful here that one 

MARY HATHAWAY NYE. UNITED STATES. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^ CQn _ 

fine herself exclusively to this field. 

There is a constantly growing demand for good illustrators who 
can give a natural, sympathetic 
rendering of child-life. Miss Em- 
met is not, however, by any means 
alone in the arena. Among the 
contributors to children's period- 
icals are Miss Hills, equally sure 
in strong, bold outline and ex- 
tremely delicate pen and ink work; 
Miss Kobbe, with her clever char- 
acter sketches ; Katherine Pyle, rec- 
ognized by a certain quaint origi- 
nality, and Miss Minna Brown; in 
fact nearly all the women illustra- 
tors work more or less for children's 
magazines. We regret the with- 
drawal of Maria Oakey Dewing from magazine work; nor do 
we see often enough the charming flower studies, full of delicacy 
and feeling, which Mrs. Richard Watson Gilder occasionally gives 
us. Albertine Randall Wheelan shows great originality, a remark- 
able sense of the humorous, and a daring handling of the pen. 




design for book cover. 

Mary Hathaway Nye. United States. 







ETCHING — PORTRAIT OF MRS. PIPER AT SPINNING WHEEL. E. PIPER. England. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



93 



J/INlMRr 



We enjoy hugely her Chinamen, cats, and other amusing crea- 
tions. They are real beyond a shadow of a doubt, and one is 
positive that they have done, and 
will do again, all the ludicrous 
things that Mrs. Wheelan repre- 
sents them as doing. 

With the exception of Made- 
laine Lemaire and a few others, 
it is difficult to find any women 
illustrators abroad of much prom- 
inence. It sometimes seems that 
our best magazines, which in ac- 
cepting only good work have 
raised illustration to a fine art, 
have done more toward dissemi- 
nating a general art culture in 
the United States than any other 
single influence. 

Now that it is possible to re- 
produce, by different processes, 
all kinds of sketches, we find not 
only pen and ink but lead pencil, 
crayon, gouache, aquarelle, pastel 




nas torne 
fresh and rosy cnfla; 
he tl*sps tlie n*ncl 
OF A }* iy young iU »&A 

Htt »*m* ;f .WNUflRX 
Sh« w**rt 4 <l»«k of{u« 

it's 4j>nnkle<3 otr -wift) jrvw 

pr/«r 






J\r& JWifV sU loojt* so , 
£lek chetk is like » tost. 

/xvfa. «J»«i> si* pak k«r hit 
Of* str«*m. st>* wtnt» 1o 

STl puKe me *u»Uc« tarfjtft* 
l/ik« U asLet «fgUs».f 

/l«a now h«r time ti o«r. 

%3he 4o«.ind<t i» <H*T. 
\ ■««%<«<«-»:* T .B«'»(c€ , C<>j<« 
3 ♦W^Triv'canne- . 



NEEDLEWORK PANEL. 
Miss Eliot Walker, England. 



[KNEE DEEP IN JUNE 

i'S— - — AND OTHER P0tH5 



and even oil, rendered with great success. 
The illustrator has all the delights of using 
these different mediums and yet working 
toward a practical result. 

Illustration opens so wide and attract- 
ive a vista, occupies so high a place in the 
art of this country, and is withal so remu- 
nerative, that women would do well to fol- 
low it more largely than they have done 
heretofore. 

A gentleman who is an acknowledged 
authority on illustration, in lecturing to a 
class of art students on the pros and cons 
of working for reproduction, said that to 
be a successful illustrator one must have, 
among other qualities, "ingenuity and 

DESIGNED BY SARAH W WHITMAN.^^^;' Tf f^g b g tme Q f illustration, 

United States. . ... 

it applies preeminently to book-cover de- 
signing. This particular line of applied arts has received a great 




BOOK COVER. 



94 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



BOOK COVER, 
M. A, Shelden. 



XVI CENTURY. 
United States. 



impetus in the last five or six years. Until that time there was 
practically no attention paid to the proper decoration of book 
covers. Even the best publishers, except, perhaps, on those rare 
occasions when an expensive volume was to be issued, were guilty 
of offering the most preposterous inconsistencies to their patrons. 

A publisher was quite likely to 
bring out, let us say, a volume of 
critical essays with a bunch of 
daisies thrown across the cover, 
with a careless disregard of all 
rules of balance and composition. 
Among books of a higher char- 
acter, it was a common thing to 
find an illustration extracted from 
the contents of the volume and re- 
produced on the cover. We hardly 
know to what to attribute the gen- 
eral revolt among the publishers 
and the public against this puerile 
perversion of the art of binding. 
Perhaps the establishment of such 
clubs as the Grolier and Aldine has had more to do with the reform 
in this matter than anything else. Through frequent exhibitions 
the members of these clubs have been able to study, and, better 
still, to put before the public, the treasures of private collectors. It 
was inevitable that the contrast between the beauty of treatment 
and design seen in the Grolier, Derome, and kindred styles, and the 
entire absence of these qualities in the current pub- 
lications, should be strongly felt. The effect of this 
influence has been such that publishers have come 
to realize that a salable book must have an attractive | 
cover. It is not expedient to have hand-tooled leather I 
and such other expensive bits of handicraft as we Sn 
have inherited from the bibliophiles of the sixteenth ^oHBHRBh 
and seventeenth centuries, but even in this age of book cover. 

' ^ Boston 

machinery, and the endless publication of cheaply collection. 
bound books, very charming and artistic cover effects united states. 
are within the reach of the cultivated and enterprising publisher. 
Book-cover work presents a wide field, ranging from the thor- 
oughly formal conventional sixteenth-century cover to something 
appropriate for the so-called railroad novel. It is here that the 





1 -^^ 



Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

EASTERN FACADE OF THE MIXES AND MIXING BUILDING, 
As Seen from the South. 




IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 97 

illustrator's " ingenuity and invention " is called into play. It is 
not enough to have a pretty extensive knowledge of historic 
ornament; she must be able to extract from a book its central 
idea, and reduce this thought, if possible, to some tangible form 
permitting a conventional treatment. She must not outrage any 
true standards of design, yet she should be able to suggest to the 
casual observer, in a symbolic way, the contents 
of the volume. Women seem to have a remark- 
able faculty for designing. Their intuitive sense 
of decoration, their feeling for beauty of line and 
harmony of color, insures them a high degree of 
success. Another consideration is the necessity 
of rigid, exact treatment of details; uncertain or 
--" ' even suggestive drawing is out of place in cover 
a B iSc°e K c C m^ e . ornamentation. 

united states. Mrs. Sarah W. Whitman of Boston and Mar- 

yP CentuJyCo. the garet N. Armstrong have taken a firm hold on 
(Copyrighted.) the publishers, and won recognition from the 
public, by their appropriate, tasteful, well-studied book decoration.* 
The designs of Miss Sheldon, Miss Sinclair, and others are prom- 
ising. 

For those possessing the requisite endowment, the ever-widening 
prospect in cover designing is encouraging. 

Just now wood engraving is suffering a temporary eclipse. Its 
future is problematic, owing to the process-work , 

so much in vogue, and so inimical to the interests 1 
of the engraver. It is lamentable to have to admit 1 5ff, ., * *% 
that there is the slightest question in regard to fl 
the future of the wood-cut. It seems impossible 1 
that this method of a sympathetic rendering of 1 
the artist's idea by a well-trained hand and eye I 
should be superseded by a purely mechanical means MBE 
in reproduction. We detect, even now, however, book cover. 
symptoms of a reaction toward the old-time wood cchxection 
engraving among the publishers. There are rec- united states. 
ords of women engraving on wood in the time of Albrecht 
Diirer. Since the revival of the art in England, through the 
work of Thomas Bewick, we find mention of but one eminent 
woman engraver, Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of the famous 



* Miss Alice C. Morse, the writer of this paper, has made a wide reputation by 
her excellent and serious work in the designing of book covers. — Ed. 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 





BOOK COVER. 

Sarah W. Whitman. 

United States. 



THE LITTLE KNITTER. 
M. O. Kobbe. United States. 
(By permission of the Century 
COtltainS fine Company-Copyrighted.) 



engraver John Thompson. Most of our women engravers in this 
country (and we have many) have sometime been students in a 
class started by the Cooper Institute about twenty years ago. 

Engraving has been taught at the Pennsyl- 
vania Academy of Fine Arts also. The 
Cooper has discontinued the department 
of wood engraving until the future of the 

art is assured. _,„ __ _ 

Among the women i "I 

well worth mention- 
ing for exceptional 
technical skill are 
Miss Caroline A. 
Powell, a former stu- 
dent of the Cooper, 
and pupil of Timothy 
Cole. A volume is- 
sued by the Society of 
American Wood En- 
gravers 

examples of Miss Powell's work. This book was awarded the grand 
prize at the Berlin International Exposition of Fine Arts. She was 
the first woman admitted to membership in this society. Since then, 
the names of Anna B. 1 
Comstock and Edith 
Cooper have been added. 
To Miss Powell's earlier 
achievements she has 
added some original 
work. 

Mrs. Comstock, the 

wife of the professor of 

''•'^£- " v '' en tomology at Cornell, 

;. > has made a specialty of 

Antwerp peasant, engraving moths, beetles, ^aunt^abItha. ~~~~ 

M.O. Kobbe. United States. ^_ ± i11iictrntp t, pr M. O. Kobbe. United States. 

(By permission of the Century CLU "> LU lliQ ^ LI ^ L ^ LLC1 (By permission of the Century 

Company— Copyrighted.) husband's books. Her Company— Copyrighted.) 

work in this direction is remarkable. Edith Cooper is well 
known to lovers of wood engraving through the pages of the 
magazines. 

Alice Barber Stevens, before she became prominent as an 
illustrator, did some good wood engraving. 





IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 99 

Miss Waldeyer excels in fac-simile. We have also the Misses 
Naylor, thoroughly good all-round workers and engravers ; Miss 
Berger, and others. 

The mechanical difficulties of wood engraving are great, and 
can only be overcome by the closest application. As the standard, 
too, is very high here, there is no encouragement to young workers 
in the existing order of things. Unless there is a change for the 
better, we shall soon find ourselves without competent engravers 
to fill the places of the older ones as they leave the ranks. 



|. to get" ,t"°ut" ssctfrin. \ 




PEN AND INK DRAWING— " KITTENS AT SCHOOL." 
A. R. Wheelan. United States. By permission of the Century Co. (Copyrighted.) 

The future of the wood-cut lies perhaps almost entirely in the 
direction of original work, or reproductive engraving of marked 
individual excellence. 

Fortunately, even the best process-work does not, in many 
cases, give the effect necessary, and a wood engraver of unusual 
ability is assured abundant opportunity for the exercise of his or 
her calling. 

As women increase in physical vigor and mental grasp — through 
the higher education — they eagerly seek an outlet for their ener- 
gies. In art, perhaps, more than in any other profession, do they 
find the conditions which make for success. 

Alice C. Morse. 



THE WORK OF CINCINNATI WOMEN IN DECORATED 

POTTERY. 




THE ceramic exhibit by the women of Cincinnati, as shown in 
the Cincinnati Room at the Columbian Exposition, is one of 
the results of an impulse which, in 1874-75, was felt by some 
of the leading potters of the United States and by a few women in 
different localities. There was no concerted action between the 

> potters and the 

women, and none 

- between the 

, women of Cincin- 

. ' nati and those of 

other cities. 

These sporadic 
symptoms seemed 
to indicate that the 
times were ripe for 
the introduction of 
a new industry into 
the country, an in- 
dustry that recom- 
mended itself to 
the taste of many 
women, and 
seemed to offer a 
profitable field of 
future work for 
them. 

When the wom- 
en of Cincinnati 
began their experi- 
ments there was no 
available knowl- 
edge in reference 
to the art of deco- 




POTTERY. Cincinnati Collection. 



United States. 
(101) 



102 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

rating, and no suitable kilns for firing their wares. The first result 
of their efforts worthy of note was a collection of overglaze decora- 
tion sent by them to the Centennial Exposition in 1876. Of this 
collection, two tea-cups and saucers and a chocolate pitcher, loaned 
by the Cincinnati Museum, will be found in the Cincinnati Room. 
In 1877 experiments were made in the common clays of the 
neighborhood, in incised and relief work, and in the use of color 
in the biscuit, a first step in advance of overglaze decoration. 




PAINTED PORCELAIN VASE, OLD SWEDISH STYLE. Helene Hold. Sweden. 

A few notable pieces of this early underglaze decoration from 
the museum may also be seen. These pieces, when they appeared, 
seemed marvelous to us, and perhaps no achievement since made 
has marked so great a step in advance. The pieces representing 
this period are three small plates, showing the first success in this 
underglaze, and a large vase, white body, fishes, and water-plants. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



103 



in 



this connection, a punch-bowl, 



A later piece may be mentioned 
yellow body, with dragon. 

These enthusiastic women, believing in themselves, and foresee- 
ing in the future work for many hands, brought clays from distant 
parts of the State and built suitable kilns for their firing. 

A pottery club was organized in 1879, which has been one of 
the active instrumentalities in the advancement of many branches 
of decorative work. The 
decoration of the Pottery 
Club shows some of the 
best work of Cincinnati 
women. Miss McLaugh- 
lin, president of this club, 
discovered the decorative 
process of the Limoges 
Faience, specimens of 
which will be found in 
the exhibit of the Cincin- 
nati Pottery Club. Mrs. 
Bellamy Storer was early 
in the field of decoration 
and experiments; her 
talents were varied and 
her taste individual. 

The work of the la- 
dies was, much of it, 
fired, and their experi- 
ments made at one of 
the leading potteries, 
where some simple ar- 
rangements were made 
for their accommodation. 
The progress of the work 
soon outgrew the facili- 
ties afforded at the pot- 
tery, and in the autumn 
of 1880 Mrs. Storer established her own pottery in one of the 
suburbs. The success of " Rook wood Pottery," both in an artistic 
and a commercial sense, may be regarded as the most perfect 
realization of decorative art in clay in the United States; the 
result of a woman's taste, skill, and perseverance, from the initial 
step until it reached a period of commercial success. Mrs. Storer's 






POTTERY. Cincinnati Collection. United States. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



105 



judgment led her to select those whose experience was greater 
than her own in perfecting her manufacture. The decorators, 
from the first, were pupils of the School of Design, and perhaps in 
the application of artistic principles to an industry the influence 
of the school has been as noticeably shown here as in any other 
direction. 

Mrs. Storer herself, at intervals of leisure from her many en- 
gagements, continues to practice her favorite art of decoration, and 




- 



POTTERY AND GLASS— Cincinnati Collection. United States. 



her work will be shown in the Cincinnati Room. Her taste is in- 
clined to the grotesque, and especially to the Japanese in style. 
She is reported to have said: " If any one thinks my dragons are 
not anatomically correct, let him prove it." 

While Mrs. Storer was developing and perfecting her pottery, 
the Pottery Club, and many women outside of it, were as busily 
engaged in the various branches of potting and porcelain deco- 
ration. 



106 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Perhaps no work done in Cincinnati seems more individual than 
that of Mrs. C. A. Plimpton, in the common clays of Ohio. Her artis- 
tic taste early led her to see the adaptability of these soft clays to 
decorative uses. Her processes consisted in inlaying contrasting 
colors in the green clay; in relief work in a variety of shades of clay; 
and of " pate-sur-pate," or ship decoration, in landscape and other 
effects, ranging in color from dark-brown clays, through the reds, 
to yellow and white. Interesting specimens of her work, loaned 
by individuals and by the Cincinnati Museum, will be found in the 
Cincinnati Room. 

In the limits assigned to this paper, it is impossible to do more 
than allude in a brief manner to the work of Cincinnati women in 
this interesting specialty. Specimens of the very early work, of the 
first successes in color under the glaze, of early Rookwood, and 
indeed of all branches through the days of experiment and uncer- 
tainty down to and including the finished work of the most expe- 
rienced hands of the present day, will be found in the Cincinnati 
Room. 

It is an interesting circumstance that the women who began the 
work in 1875 are, with few exceptions, still engaged in it. 

It can not be doubted from the results of the past few years that 
there is an interesting future in pottery for decorative art in Cin- 
cinnati. The variety and beauty of the common clays of Ohio are 
great, and the success thus far in their use for decorative purposes 
is such as to warrant the expectation that the field in that direction 
is, as yet, barely entered upon. 

Perhaps at no center of pottery work in the country is more 
originality and variety in work to be found than in Cincinnati. 
Nowhere have the common clays been used in such variety of 
combination and decoration, nor has so much effect been produced 
by colored and contrasting glazes. 

Elizabeth W. Perry. 



WOMAN IN SCIENCE. 



THE mind of woman has always shown itself in sympathy 
with the harmony and beauty of the physical universe. In 
the pursuit of knowledge she often elects as her favorite 
paths those which bring her into close relations with nature. Her 
proverbial propensity to investigate, her acknowledged patience, 
her delicacy of manipulation, her exactness of detail all find legiti- 
mate scope in the nice observation and conscientious work of the 
laboratory. With advancing 
education, better equipped 
than ever before, she re- 
sponds to the appeal of 
natural forms and pro- 
cesses. Her eye, and ear, 
and touch become sensitive, 
her mental perception keen 
to note variations of type 
and modifications of struct- 
ure. 

It is pleasing to record 
that American women of 
this generation are entering 
the various departments of 
scientific research with en- 
thusiastic devotion. 

While college doors 
were yet closed to the sex, 
the modern movement for 
freeing woman from the 
traditional limitations not 
having been inaugurated, 
individual women were often 
isolated way for their own 
urns, portfolios of drawings 




WATER-COLOR. 
Jessup Collection of North American Woods. 
Minnie R. Sargent. United States. 



led to study in 
satisfaction. How 
of plant or animal 

(107) 



a more or less 
many herbari- 



forms, collec- 





4tfjj 



> W 




OLD ENGLISH CLOCK IN CARVED WOOD CASE. MRS. ELIOT. England. 




! \ 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



Ill 



tions of shells, sea-mosses, and minerals have been stored away as 
private memorials of happy research and experimentation ! Field 
and forest, mountain and shore have been explored for treasures 
of science, by many a modest daughter of the soil or darling of lux- 
ury. A few of these early students, lifted into prominence by the 
persistency and value of their work, grace the record of woman's 
intellectual achievement with a fame which we are proud to 
acknowledge. 

Maria Mitchell as a discoverer in astronomical science is a peer- 
ess of the realm in that exalted branch of research. A student 

from childhood with her 
father, an astronomer of 
repute, she watched from 
his observatory at Nan- 
tucket the suns and plan- 
ets in their majestic march 
through the stellar spaces; 
she took observations, com- 
puted orbits, recorded ce- 
lestial phenomena, resolved 
nebulae, studied sun-spots, 
the satellites of Jupiter and 
Saturn, the color of stars, 
and prepared the American 
Nautical Almanac for many 
years, till October, 1 847, she 
hailed a new comet which 
" swam into her ken." For 
this discovery she received 
I a gold medal from the King 
I of Denmark and a copper 
I medal from the republic of 
HMBMMi San Marino. Miss Mitchell 
united states. was the first woman elected 




POTTERY— ClNCIN 



'I COLLECTION. 



to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was 
appointed Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College on the open- 
ing of that institution, and later visited Europe, where she was the 
honored guest of Sir John Herschel, of Humboldt, and of Le 
Verrier. Her unaffected and unpretentious personality, as well as 
her honest and sober self-respect, made her a valued friend of great 
scientists everywhere. She received the degree of LL. D. from 
Hanover in 1882, and from Columbia in 1887. She died January 



112 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



■^a-/MMMM-, 



28, 1889, illustrious through her contributions to science, and hon- 
ored in the hearts of all her countrywomen. 

The name of Miss Eliza A. Youmans is conspicuous as a pioneer 
in the field of botany. She wrote a treatise upon plant-life which 
marked an era in methods of study and teaching. Hers was one of 
the first books which pursued object-teaching as the true method, 
and made original observation the basis of investigation. She was 
the sister of Professor Youmans of New York, and was associated 
with her father in his intercourse with the scientists of Europe. 

In many high-schools for girls, private seminaries for women, 
normal schools, or advanced private academies, the natural sciences 
of geography, geology, astronomy, botany, and zoology have been 

long taught by women 
with distinguished abili- 
ty. Now the colleges for 
1 women maintain profes- 
sorships in every branch 
of science filled honora- 
bly and successfully by 
women. Consult the 
catalogues of these ill- 
s' titutions for their 
names, flanked by de- 
grees and titles witness- 
ing their learning and 
their achievements. 

Even in the universi- 
ties themselves young 
women wrest honors in 
the scientific field from 
the most ardent champions of the other sex ; the increasing fellow- 
ships for young women are leading forward the most gifted and 
the most ambitious of our girl graduates to higher attainments, 
year by year, and there are wider opportunities of competition, not 
only in the physical and natural sciences, but in ethnology, archae- 
ology, philology, psychology, and even distinctive branches and 
special lines of applied science. 

There is, moreover, a vast amount of work of a high order and 
great value done by women as assistants in the scientific depart- 
ments of our universities. The Harvard observatory and Harvard 
botanical and zoological museums testify to the thoroughness 
and comprehensiveness of such assistance in observing, recording, 




. ■ ■■/..'■ 

POTTERY— Cincinnati Collecti 



Wm 



United States. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



113 



and comparing phenomena, and in the exacting details of micro- 
scopy, photography, and spectroscopy, as well as in making up 
monographs and arranging and classifying the collections. The 
Natural History Society and the Marine Biological Laboratory of 
Massachusetts are greatly dependent on the active assistance and 
original investigation of women as students and co-workers with 
the curators and professors. A number of women are catalogued 
in various parts of the country as curators of museums, as instruct- 
ors or professors of science in the institutes and colleges, and as 
deans of faculty. Mrs. Ellen H. Richards of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, in 
the department of sanitary 
chemistry, is widely known. 
Mrs. Rachel Lloyd of Lin- 
coln, Neb., one of the most 
noted women in chemistry 
in this country, took her 
degree at Zurich. Mrs. 
Katharine Brandegee of 
California Academy of Sci- 
ence is curator of a bo- 
tanical museum. Emily 
Gregory, Ph. D., of Barnard 
College, is recognized in 
botany. Rachel L. Bodley 
made a catalogue of natural 
history which was regarded 
by Prof. Asa Gray as a valu- 
able contribution to science. 
She filled the chair of 
chemistry and toxology in the Woman's Medical College of Penn- 
sylvania, and became dean of the faculty. She died in 1888. Mrs. 
Louisa Reed Stowell, who has been in charge of the botanical labora- 
tory of Michigan University for twelve years, is a member of the 
Royal Microscopic Society of London, and of many other scientific 
bodies. She has made over a hundred contributions to current sci- 
entific literature, all illustrated by original drawings from her own 
microscopical preparations. At the Boston Institute of Technology 
the Margaret Cheney Reading Room keeps in memory the promise of 
a fair young life happily devoted to the pursuit of chemistry. Grace 
Anna Lewis of Pennsylvania is well known as an authority on 
the habits of birds, and has lectured on this subject with great 




WATER-COLOR. JESSUP COLLECTION OF NORTH 

American Woods. Minnie R. Sargent. 
United States. 




BRONZE PLATE. Marcelle Lancelot-Croce. France. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



115 



acceptance. Miss Cora Clarke of Jamaica Plain has made an 
exhaustive collection of galls, fungi, and mosses; Mrs. Lemmon, 
artist of the California Board of Forestry; Miss Marion Talbot of 
Chicago University, department of domestic science; and a host 
of others who fill responsible positions in all departments of science 
might swell the list far beyond the purpose or limits of this paper. 

The department of biology seems to attract a large proportion 
of recent students, who meet the demands of laboratory work with 
great efficiency. The science of ethnology has been ably served by 
Miss Alice C. Fletcher of Massachusetts. She studied the archaeo- 
logical remains of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and went in 
1 88 1 to live among the Omaha Indians, under the auspices of the 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology, for the further pursuit of archae- 
ology and ethnology. She has 
contributed results of great 
value, covering Indian tradi- 
tions, customs, religious cere- 
monies, and many kindred 
subjects. She published a 
book on " Indian Civilization 
and Education" in 1886, and 
was then sent to Alaska to 
investigate the condition of 
the natives. She is now en- 
gaged in making allotments 
of land to the Omaha Indians, 
for which service she was ap- 
pointed by the Government. 

The scientific literature of 

WATER COLOR. 
Women IS becoming very ex- h. R* h. Princess Louise, of Denmark. 

tended. From the text-books of Mrs. Emma Willard and Mrs. 
Horace Mann, of Mrs. Louis Agassiz and Mrs. Richards, of Miss 
Crocker and Miss Arms, to the charming sketches of Olive Thorne 
Miller, we have a constantly increasing series of elementary works 
in natural science. The books of Miss Jane Newell of Cambridge, 
on botany ; of Miss Julia McNair Wright, on plant and animal life, 
a series called " Seaside and Wayside," with other small but signifi- 
cant volumes intended to meet the popular interest and compre- 
hension and arouse a love of scientific study, are pouring daily 
from the press.* The department of Elementary Science, or 




* Mrs. Hopkins, the writer of this paper, is the author of 
ogy," " A Hand-Book of the Earth," "Observation Lessons," 
etc.— Ed. 



Educational Psychol- 
Elementary Science," 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 117 

Natural Study, in the common schools is almost wholly in the 
hands of women as supervisors and teachers, and it can not be 
questioned that it is directed and presented with remarkable 
adaptation to the general need and the fostering- of scientific 
methods of study, as well as a love of nature. 

Directly in the line of pure science is Mrs. Mary Hemenway's 
undertaking in the department of archaeology. Her southwestern 
archaeological expedition, with its resulting museum, literature, and 
historical collections, is an invaluable foundation for future ethno- 
logical research, and is fruitful already of great results for the 
original study of American history. The collection accruing to the 
expedition and investigations thus far has been recently exhibited 
in Madrid, and proved prolific of results for so short a period. It is 
hoped that some permanent establishment of this museum of 
American archaeology may be effected for the emulation of such 
noble scientific work as that of the late eminent Egyptologist, Miss 
Amelia B. Edwards. 

It is impossible to convey an adequate idea of the promise of all 
these signs of the times in this brief resume. It seems fitting that 
some flower of scientific expression, some emblem of the spirit of 
womanhood beautifying even the dry technicalities of the theme, 
should bring this paper to a close. We find this in a series of four 
hundred and twelve water-color paintings by Mrs. Charles S. Sar- 
gent of Brookline, prepared to illustrate the Jessup collection of 
North American woods in the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory of New York, for a volume written and furnished by her hus- 
band. These illustrations are drawn from nature, the size of life, 
and for outline, color, grace, beauty, and scientific detail they are 
beyond criticism. Professor Goodale of Harvard University declares 
them to be unique and admirable in the realm of both science and 
art; the very spirit of the trees stirs in them, and a revelation 
of beauty and harmony greets us in these inimitable and loving 
studies from nature. Mrs. Sargent's drawings take the place in 
the delineation of native foliage that Audubon's matchless and 
exhaustive sketches hold in the representation of the birds of 
North America. 

May we not assure ourselves that whatever woman's thought 
and study shall embrace will thereby receive a new inspiration; 
that she will save science from materialism, and art from a gross 
realism; that the " eternal womanly shall lead upward and onward ? " 

Louisa Parsons Hopkins. 




:-~- A 



FAC-SIMILE OF BIBLE BELONGING TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
Royal Society of Art Needlework. England. 



WOMAN IN LITERATURE. 

IN this great review of ours, each company in turn steps to the 
front, shows its colors, salutes, and passes on to make room for 
the next. Painters, sculptors, needlewomen, have gone by, 
and now the woman of letters must raise her banner (sable, a 
pen rampant by two ink-pots couchant, on a white ground; motto, 
" Legion! "), must come forward, and give an account of herself. 

She is notoriously modest, yet she thinks she has a pretty good 
account to render, and points with gentle pride to her well-ordered 
ranks; while, to convince the world of her advance, she refers the 
public to the literary women of half a century ago, and challenges 
a comparison. Though she boasts of no higher attainment than 
her sisters of other professions, yet she may say that she comes of 
an older family; for woman began to write before she thought of 
taking prominence in other arts. Was not Anne Bradstreet, wife 
of Simon the Governor, the first American poet? She died in 1672. 
She was called the Tenth Muse, and the grim Puritans wept over her 
poems. One reads them to-day with respect, but feels no keen desire 
for her Parnassus. Next in order, perhaps, comes Miss Hannah 
Adams, a gentle and lovely soul, who lived into our own century, 
and, dying, was the first person buried in Mount Auburn. The 
family of Sedgwick gives us two writers in the same generation, 
though one of them held the name by marriage only, having been 
a Livingston by birth. This latter was Susan, author of several 
novels and tales, of which one, " Walter Thornby," was written when 
she was over seventy years of age. Better known than this per- 
severing lady was her sister-in-law, Miss Catherine Sedgwick, 
whose moral tales attained a wide popularity. She might be called 
the American Miss Edgeworth, and some of her titles, " The Poor 
Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man," " Means and Ends," etc., remind 
us forcibly of that sprightly moralist. 

Next we must mention Mrs. Sigourney, a writer of wide repute, 
though little read to-day. " Pocahontas and Other Poems," " Lays 
of the Heart," " Tales in Prose and Verse," the very titles breathe 
of bygone days and thoughts; yet Mrs. Sigourney was a noble and 

(lift) 



120 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



lovely woman, and one might spend an hour much less profitably 
than in making or renewing acquaintance with her writings. 

In looking back at these early lights, we must not forget the 
Davidson sisters, Lucretia and Margaret, that lovely pair whose 
story was so touchingly and beautifully told by Washington Irving. 




WALL HANGING REPRESENTING THE GODDESS BONOMIE. 
Figure by Burne-Jones, Belonging to the Royal School of Art Needlework. 

England. 

It is a sad little story of too early development, hectic beauty and 
blossoming, and death by consumption almost before womanhood 
was attained. Lucretia, poor child, wrote 278 poems, and died at 
seventeen. Margaret's record is scarcely less startling and painful. 




LOUIS XV. TABLE. Decorations by Mme. G. Nieter. France. 



122 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

One wishes they might have lived to-day, and have had some 
chance of rounding out their gentle lives. 

Next we have Mrs. Frances Osgood, author of " A Wreath of 
Flowers from New England," and other volumes of poetry; and, 
contemporary with her, the commanding figure of Margaret Fuller. 
It would be pleasant to dwell at some length on the life of this 
amazing woman, who began to write Latin verses at eight years 




PORTFOLIO CONTAINING PORTRAITS OF DISTINGUISHED 

SWEDISH WOMEN. 

old, and whose powers were at their height when the fatal storm 
of July 1 6, 1850, hurried her, with all she loved, to her ocean grave; 
but this brief record can do little more than mention names and 
dates, and those who do not know Queen Margaret's story are 
prayed to read it, in Mrs. Howe's memoir of her. 

Lydia Maria Child was older than either of the two last-named 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE CART-HORSE GROUP. NORTH SIDE MAIN BASIN. 



By Messrs. E. C. Potter and D. C. French. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



125 



ladies, having been born in 1802; but her beautiful and helpful life 
was a long one, elosing only in 1880, so that we may think of her 
as a link between the old time and the new. Her name is insepa- 
rably connected with the anti-slavery movement, and she was for 
many years editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard. In 
other fields of literature, her " History of Rome "won her deserved 

renown, while 
the lovely r o - 
mance of "Philo- 
thea" is still read 
with pleasure by 
young and old. 

So far we have 
dealt only with 
those who have 
won their promo- 
tion and passed 
on from this field 
of work to anoth- 
but the next 



er 

name on the roll 
of honor is that 
of one who is still 
living, the dean 
of American lit- 
erary women, 
Mrs. Harriet 
Beecher Stowe. 
Nearly half a 
century has 
passed since the 
world was elec- 
t r i fi e d by the 




CARVED WOOD AND LEATHER CHAIR. 
Made by H. R. H. the Princess of Wales. England. 



publication of 
" Uncle Tom's 

Cabin." The quiet, hard-working wife of the country parson and 
professor found herself suddenly famous — raised to a height of 
popularity which might well have turned a less strong and sensible 
head; but one does not learn that Mrs. Stowe was ever unduly 
elated by her popularity, or that either hardship or prosperity 
could shake the serene composure of her mind. Of late years 



126 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



she has laid down the pen, and passes her days quietly at home, 
devoting much time to the flowers she loves so fondly. 

Gladly as we hold the thought that Mrs. Stowe is still with us 
in the land of our sojourn, it is none the less true that she belongs 
to the last period of literature, not to the present. It is in the 
figure of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe that we must greet the foremost 
literary woman of to-day. Though she has long years to look back 
upon, Mrs. Howe is still wholly of the present, and her clear eyes 
look forward with intelligent comprehension to the future. She 
was born in 1819, the 
daughter of Samuel 
Ward, a New York 
merchant of the old 
stately school. A stu- 
dent all her life, a 
writer from early 
childhood, it was not 
till some years after 
her marriage that she 
thought of publishing 
any of her work. 

She has told the 
writer how, when she 
was perhaps nineteen 
years of age, she 
showed some of her 
poems to Margaret 
Fuller, at the request 
of a mutual friend. 
Miss Fuller was de- 
lighted with them, and 
eagerly advised Miss 
Ward to have them 
published. Mrs. Howe still remembers the shock this suggestion 
gave her. It was still considered " singular " for a woman to pub- 
lish her writings. It was out of the question for Mr. Ward's 
daughter to think of such a thing; it seemed a pity that Miss 
Fuller should even have suggested it, so the maiden thought at 
the time. Meanwhile the word was spoken, the seed dropped, to 
germinate in its own good time, and blossom in unfading beauty. 
Her work is so well known that it is unnecessary to allude to it 
in detail. From the publication of " Passion Flowers," in 1853, 




CARVED WOOD AND LEATHER STOOL. 
Princess Victoria of Wales. England. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 127 

down to the present day, her pen has never been idle, her voice 
never silent in the cause of progress and of practical Christianity. 
May it be long before we cease to follow the course of that active 
pen, to listen to that silver voice! 

In her own generation Mrs. Howe stands nearly alone among 
literary women in this country. Fanny Kemble was of her time, 
and, though not of us, was for so many years with us that we may 




SEAT OF STOOL IN LEATHER WORK. PRINCESS VICTORIA OF WALES. ENGLAND. 

perhaps place her name upon our roll. Mrs. Kemble's " Records 
of a Girlhood " and " Records of Later Life " will always be read 
with delight; and she has also given us some tender and graceful 
poems. That brilliant and eventful life ended, as is well known, 
but a few weeks ago. Another contemporary of Mrs. Howe's is 
Mrs. Edna D. Cheney, whose work will be spoken of later. 

First among that great feminine army of translators who trans- 



128 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



plant the flowers of foreign thought into the garden of our litera- 
ture, stands Miss Katherine Wormly, whose admirable translations 
of Balzac have introduced the great French novelist to a new world 
of readers. 

Mrs. James T. Fields has written all too little, to speak from 
the standpoint of our wishes, yet we have some delightful things 
from her pen — a volume of poems, " Under the Olives"; "Asphodel," 
a romance, and the charming reminiscences of famous men, which 
have appeared from time to time in the magazines, are enough to 
make us all cry for 
more ; yet we are glad | 
and grateful for these. 
Mrs. Fields is a promi- 
nent figure of literary 
Boston, and there is 
no house more de- 
lightful than hers. 

But now the plot 
thickens. There came 
a day when it no long- 
er was singular for 
women to write. Sud- 
denly it came, one 
hardly knew how; the 
windows of the House 
of Woman were 
thrown open, and in- 
stead of here and 
there a single lonely 
watcher on the roof 
was a crowd of women 
leaning out, greeting 
the fresh air with 
rapture, eager to see, to hear, and more especially to tell. From 
this moment I drop all attempt at chronological arrangement as 
invidious; indeed, I can do little more than mention the names 
that come thronging to my mind. The living must give place to 
those who have passed from our knowledge. 

Helen Hunt, a name beloved by all, has slept for many years 
beneath her cairn in the West; Emily Dickinson, dying unknown, 
left us the afterglow of her strange, secluded, seething life. Even 
as I write, the bells are tolling for the sweet New England poetess 




CARVED WOOD AND LEATHER STOOL. 
Princess Maud of Wales. England. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



129 



and noble woman, Lucy Larcom, whose peaceful life has ended 
peacefully not many months after that of her friend, John Green- 
leaf Whittier. Her " New England Girlhood " gives us glimpses 
of a life that it is good to know about, to remember, in these days 
when luxury and the love of it grow too fast upon us; and some of 
her poems find an honored place in every anthology of American 
poets. 

How long is it since Louisa Alcott died? four years, or four 
weeks? Her memory is so fresh in our minds it is hard to realize 
the flight of time. One seldom sees a fresh copy of her works; they 




SEAT OF STOOL IN LEATHER WORK. Princess Maud OF Wales. England. 



are always read to pieces, thumbed by eager schoolgirls, marked 
with enthusiastic pencilings, which the guardians of libraries try in 
vain to prevent. But widely popular as her stories are, we feel that 
the woman herself was finer than anything she wrote; and the 
heroic figure pictured so ably and so lovingly in Mrs. Cheney's 
admirable life of Miss Alcott is but feebly shadowed forth in her 
own writings. 

Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton has given us several volumes of 
poems and some charming stories, of which one set in particular, 

9 



130 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

the " Nightcap " series, is recalled by the writer with tender affec- 
tion. Mrs. Rebecca Harding Davis has written little of late years, 
but her powerful novels have won her an enduring place in litera- 
ture. Miss Constance Fenimore Woolson, to whom we owe the joy 
of " East Angels," not to be forgotten; Mrs. Whitney, Elizabeth 
Stuart Phelps, Gail Hamilton, Celia Thaxter, Harriet Prescott 
Spofford, Elizabeth Stoddard — this is degenerating into a mere cat- 
alogue; but what is a poor scribe to do, who is limited to so many 
words, and who sees ever new files passing before her, pen in hand, 
laurel on brow, waving the foolscap banner? I would fain dwell 
on each of these honored names, but must pass on to others no less 
worthy of honor. Mrs. Burnett, to whom the crown of the chil- 
dren's love has been given since Miss Alcott laid it down; Mrs. Van 
Rensselaer, Mrs. Burton Harrison, " Susan Coolidge," Kate Doug- 
las Wiggin, Mary Hallock Foote, and those sweet singers, Edith 
Thomas and Helen Gray Cone. A step further and we greet Mrs. 
Deland, " Charles Egbert Craddock," and those three who string 
jewels on a golden thread, the queens of the short story, Miss 
Jewett, Miss Wilkins, and Octave Thanet. 

Following these come Maud Howe Elliott and Louise Imogen 
Guiney, Amelie Rives, Agnes Repplier, and Chicago's poetess, 
Harriet Monroe. 

But now I can no more ; and I feel as the hostess does who has 
tried to invite all her acquaintance to an entertainment. If it is 
only in this last breath that I speak of Mary Hartwell Catherwood 
and Elizabeth Cavazza; if it is only now that I greet the sweet mem- 
ory of Emma Lazarus, that flower of Israel — it is not because I 
honor them less, but because the human brain has limits, while the 
number of women of letters to-day has none. 

Greeting to one and all, and love, and honor; those whom I 
have left out, sitting at the world's great feast, will not miss the 
spoonful of victuals that I unwittingly deny them; those of whom I 
have spoken will pardon the brief and insufficient mention. 

And so, roll-call being over, the Literary Brigade shoulders 
pens, raises the banner once more, and passes on. 

Laura E. Richards. 




%s^yp 



— 







Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE LAGOON DURING A REGATTA, 

Looking Northeast toward the Fisheries Building. 




A H 










THE LIBRARY. 



ONE of the most important features of the Woman's Building 
is the library, which contains the writings of American and 
foreign women. The work of collecting the American books 
was done by committees in the different States. Various plans 
were pursued in making these collections. Massachusetts held that 
quality, rather than quantity, was to be sought. A high standard 
of excellence was required, and in most cases the authors were 
only invited to send one of their 
works. The chairman of this com- 
mittee, Margaret Deland, herself 
our leading woman novelist, pre- 
pared a very excellent catalogue, 
which accompanied Massachusetts' 
small and valuable exhibit. This 
catalogue includes 2,000 books, 
written by Massachusetts women 
between the years of 161 2 and 
1893. It will therefore be seen 
that while the Bay State might 
have sent 2,000 books, she con- 
tented herself with sending one 
hundred. 

As New York has made the 
largest collection, a statement of 
the plan pursued by its literary 
committee has been prepared by 
the chairman. The library is an exhibit rather than a working 
library, and the catalogue, which has been very carefully prepared, 
will prove one of its most interesting features. The arrangement of 
the shelves shows the number of books sent by the different States 
and countries, so that, at a glance, the visitor may see that Belgium 
is well represented, and that France, Germany, and Great Britain 
lead among the foreign collections; that New Hampshire has given 
itself very little trouble, and New York a great deal. The cata- 

(133) 




PAINTING — "A SELLREIN WOMAN.' 

Baroness Marianne Eschenburg. 

Austria. 



134 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



logue is so arranged that a very cursory examination will show the 
subjects with which women writers have chiefly dealt. An index 
of authors gives many details of each writer's professional life, 



■ 

•■-Vv- . v 





BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATION-" IN THE MEETING HOUSE. 
A. B. Stephens. United States. 



showing the line of work to which she has devoted herself, and 
any honors that she may have won. 

The English books deserve careful examination. They are 
accompanied by some very valuable manuscripts; among others we 
may see the handwriting of Maria Edgeworth, Miss Burney, Jane 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 135 

Austin, Mrs. Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot. The 
first page of Adam Bede, with an affectionate note of dedication to 
George Lewes, signed Marian Lewes, dated 1859, * s one °f the most 
interesting objects in the World's Fair. In the same case with 
these precious manuscripts may be seen three fine editions of the 
" Boke of St. Albans," by Dame Juliana Berners. 

Germany has been wonderfully generous to us, and her 500 
admirably selected and beautifully bound volumes are a gift from 
the women of Germany. 

Spain sends us a treasure of old and rare books and priceless 
manuscripts. 

Bohemia has 307 volumes, and France 800. 

One of the valuable features of the collection in our library is the 
large number of pamphlets and monographs on professional and 
scientific subjects. All women who have published papers of this 
description are earnestly invited to send copies of their work to the 
librarian of the Woman's Building. The visitor will find volumes 
written by women from Japan, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, Italy, 
Germany, France, Bohemia, Belgium, Cuba, Peru, and Austria, and 
one volume in Arabic, by an American missionary. Many of the 
States and countries represented have given their collection to the 
Library of Woman's Work, which is to be established in the per- 
manent Woman's Building, to the erection of which all who have 
labored for our building look forward. 

A card catalogue of the books, which now number 7,000, is being 
arranged, under the direction of Miss Edith E. Clarke. No author 
who has examined the careful and beautiful arrangement of the 
catalogue would be satisfied to remain unrepresented in it. We 
earnestly beg all women writers, who have not already done so, to 
contribute their books on whatever subject. 

In this connection it seems well to call attention to the very 
large field of work which opens for women as librarians. There is 
no department of human labor for which our American girls are 
better fitted than to the careful, patient, exact profession of the 
librarian. Mr. Melville Dewey of the State Library at Albany 
gives, as the result of his experience, the statement that our young 
women are better fitted for this work than their brothers. We 
learn from him that there is an ever-increasing demand for women 
librarians. 

Owing to the unavoidable delay attending the arrangement of 
the library, it has been impossible to secure the necessary data for 
the preparation of an article which does justice to this most 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



137 



important department. These few rough notes, made when our 
volume is already in press, are entirely inadequate to the subject. 
They are made in the hope that they may call the attention of the 
visitor to a most interesting- and valuable feature of our building;. 

The following statement of the number of books received at our 
library was made on the 30th day of May, 1893: 



Alabama 64 

Alaska 

Arizona 

Arkansas . . 1 

California 9 

Colorado 46 

Connecticut _ _ 1 1 1 

Delaware ... 8 

District of Columbia. . 100 

Florida 8 

Georgia 9 

Idaho 

Illinois 100 

Indiana 1 

Iowa 2 

Kansas . 3 

Kentucky 6 

Louisiana 72 

Maine . . 42 

Maryland 56 

Massachusetts.. 100 

Michigan 24 

Minnesota 34 



Mississippi _ _ 4 

Missouri 3 

Montana 

Nebraska 20 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina. 
North Dakota... 

Ohio 

Oregon 



3 
35o 

2,500 
26 



96 

11 

Pennsylvania 400 



Rhode Island _ 
South Carolina. 
South Dakota.. 

Tennessee 

Texas . 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 



45 
13 



27 



14 



Washington 

West Virginia 5, 

Wisconsin 4 

Wyoming 

Arabia 

Belgium 350 

Bohemia 307 

Cuba (included in Spain). 

Denmark 

Finland 1 

France Soo- 

Germany (gift) 500 

Great Britain 500- 

Italy (gift — more are 

coming) 150' 



Japan . _ 
Mexico _ 

Peru 

Portugal 
Spain.. . 
Sweden. 
Turkey . . 



The Editor. 



50 
9 



300 
130 

1 




DESIGNS FOR 



wCE. Nina French. United States. 



NEW YORK LITERARY EXHIBIT. 



THE chairman of the Committee on Literature of the Board of 
Women Managers of the State of New York has organized 
and instituted an exhibit differing somewhat in character 
from any other in the library. It contains three departments: First, 
women's work in the writing and translating of books; second, 
their work in liter- 
ary clubs and classes; 
and third, their work 
in journalism and in 
periodical literature. 
The collection of 
books, which num- 
bers 2,400 volumes, 
was made by the 
Wednesday After- 
noon Club of New 
York, which contrib- 
uted $1,000 to this 
end. We have at- 
tempted to make 
an historic, chrono- 
logic collection of 
all the books ever 
written by women 
either residents or 
natives of the State 
of New York. It is believed that this will prove of benefit to 
future students of literature and lovers of Americana. It is a col- 
lection limited both by sex and locality, but valuable because of its 
completeness within these limits. The Committee of the Wednes- 
day Afternoon Club, under the efficient chairmanship of Mrs. Fred- 
erick Ferris Thompson, aided by Mrs. Charles Royce, Miss Willard, 
Mrs. Richard Ewart, Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, Mrs. Junius 

( 13d; 




SEAL OF NEW YORK STATE BOARD. 
Lydia Emmet. (Copyrighted.) 



140 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



Henri Browne, and others, with the special support and aid 
of Mrs. Runkle, the brilliant literary critic of New York and 
the president of the club, has done a very thorough and ex- 
haustive work. Great assistance has been rendered by the com- 
mittees in each county of the State, by several of the well- 
known publishers, and by most of the authors represented. 
The collection contains children's books, works of fiction, 
science, cookery, and household economics, education, language, 
translation, original verse, compiled verse, travels, biography, his- 




CARVED OAK MIRROR FRAME. Miss Reeks. England. 

tory, art, and religion. The oldest book is a novel, "The Female 
Quixote," by Charlotte Ramsay Lennox, who is said to have been 
the first native-born author of the province of New York. This 
young girl at the age of sixteen went from the wild-beast-ridden, 
Indian-haunted wilds of the west, in the province of New York, to 
the gay metropolis of London. Here she was much courted and 
feted. Among her admirers were Smollet, Fielding, Richardson, 
and Doctor Johnson — the latter wrote epilogues and prologues for 
her plays, championed her novels and poems, and made her the fash- 
ion of the hour. From this eighteenth century beginning we may 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



141 



trace the evolution of American fiction through the writers of the 
sentimental school, Mrs. Ellett, Mrs. Embury, and Mrs. Pindah; 
through the works of Caroline Cheseboro, Mrs. Kirkland, and the 
earlier writings of Grace Greenwood, to the novel which portrays 
the manners of our own day — the pleasing, graceful stories of 
Amelia Barr, Grace Litchfield, Mary Hallock Foote; the society 
studies of Mrs. Burton Harrison and Mrs. Van Rensselaer Cru- 
ger, and' the character studies and sketches of Augusta Larned 
and Maria Louisa Pool. There are eighty-one volumes of chil- 
dren's serials; conspicuous among them are those of Mary Mapes 
Dodge, "who," Mrs. Thompson says, in her Wednesday After- 
noon Club report, "slid into celebrity upon the silver skates of 
* Hans Brinker,' " and who has been long and honorably known as 




CARVED WOOD PANEL. United States. 

the editor of St. Nicholas. Many valuable books command atten- 
tion in the department of the " Miscellanies." Notable among 
these are " Musical Instruments and Their Homes," by Mrs. Julia 
Crosby Brown; a very complete collection of the works of Miss 
Catherine Beecher; a " History of French Painting," by Mrs. J. S. T. 
Stranahan, and thirty-one volumes by Lydia Maria Child. It is of 
interest to note that one of the few Afro-Americans connected 
with the World's Fair, in an official way, is a member of the New 
York State Board of Women Managers, who volunteered to collect 
the Avorks of Mrs. Child as a tribute from the blacks to her noble 
work in the anti-slavery cause. A very interesting department is 
made up of books written by New York women in foreign tongues. 
Among these there are " The Acts of the Apostles," in Burmese, 
by Mrs. Judson; the " Standard Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect," 



142 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

" The Life of Christ," and a volume of translations of some of the 
most familiar English hymns, in this dialect, by Miss Adele Field; 
"The Peep of Day," in Arabic, by Ellen Jackson Foote; "Early 
Church History" and " Legends of Helena, and Monica the Mother 
of St. Augustine," in Hindustani, by Mrs. Humphrey; a number of 
books written in German by Talvi (Mrs. Edward Robinson) — many 
of these have great literary and historical value; and one translation 
from English into French, entitled " Dans un Phare." In scientific 
literature we have an especially valuable collection of medical works 
by the women doctors of the State, while in the 219 volumes of orig- 
inal verse, many well-known songs and lyrics are to be found. Con- 
spicuous among these are " Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," by 
Mrs. Anna Willard; " Rock Me to Sleep, Mother," by Mrs. Elizabeth 
Akers Allen; " One Sweetly Solemn Thought," by Phoebe Carey; 
" I Love to Steal Awhile Away," by Mrs. Francis Brown; and 
last and best known, the famous lyric, " The Battle Hymn of the 
Republic," by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. In history we have the 
" Standard Colonial History of New York," by Mrs. Martha J. 
Lamb; the "History of Woman Suffrage," by Susan B. Anthony, 
and the "Sabbath in Puritan New England," by Mrs. Alice Morse 
Earle. 

These books, with many others of great value and interest, form 
only the first part of the New York exhibit. The 
second part consists of a showing of the work of 
seventy-five literary clubs and classes in the State. 
These records are type-written, and beautifully 1 
bound in leather covers bearing the seal of the; 
State. Each volume contains the constitution, by- 
laws, list of members, and history of the club, with | 
four representative papers, written by its members. 
These hang upon a standard at one extremity of BOOK COVER - 

Boston 

the bookshelves. These records have been collected collection. 
and installed by Sorosis, which has served as a sub- UNITED states. 
committee for the Board of Women Managers. Another stand- 
ard holds thirty-nine folios, bound like the club folios, except 
that the seal is white instead of blue. On these two posts 
there are practically four exhibits in one. Two of the folios 
contain a list of 3,000 names of the women of the State who' 
have contributed to the press, while a third volume holds a 
list of editors and assistant editors. These records have been 
prepared by the Buffalo Graduates Club, to show the impor- 
tant part New York women take in periodical literature. A literary 




IN THE WOMAN S BUILDINC 



143 



council was formed, with Mrs. Runkle as chairman. The field of 
periodical literature was analyzed and divided into its most con- 
spicuous departments. A woman who is an authority in each of 
these lines of work was asked to make a collection of the most 
brilliant articles written by New York women on these various 
subjects, the collections being as far as possible chronological. 
There are thirty-four of these little volumes, each a charming and 
interesting book 
in itself. Messrs. 
Harper & Bros, 
are about to pub- 
lish six of these 
folios in book 
form, under the 
title "The Distaff 
Series." The 
thirty-nine folios 
which hang upon 
this post are also 
an exhibit of 
model type-writ- 
ing. This work, 
done by Miss Lou- 
ise Conklin of 
New York, with 
expert assistants, 
is a most beauti- 
ful illustration of 
the fact that any 
craft may become 
an art through 
the perfection of 
its execution. 
This work has 
been prepared by 
the Board of Women Managers of the State of New York, in the 
hope that it may prove an ornament to the woman's library, which 
is the gift of their State to the Woman's Building, and that it may 
permanently benefit working-women, for whose labor in many 
directions it fixes a standard. 

Blanche Wilder Bellamy. 





PANEL— "Influence of Woman in the Arts. She Weeps with the Poet, 
Consoles Him, and Glorifies Him." France. 






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PANEL— "The Arts of Woman- To Love, to Please, and Devote Herself.' 



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France. 




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EVOLUTION OF WOMEN'S EDUCATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 

WHILE the people of Massachusetts were still living in log 
huts, the school had its separate home, and as early as 1642 
the selectmen of every town were " required to have a vigi- 
lant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to see that non? of them 
shall suffer so much barbarism in their families as not to endeavor to 
teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so 
much learning as may enable them to read the English tongue and 
•obtain a knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shil- 
lings for each neglect therein," and one man must be spared from the 
plow and the gun, " to teach, in every township whose number had 
increased to fifty households." This led to the district school, 
which served the early scattering communities well, but was a hin- 
drance at a later period. 

The principle that the education of the people is the safeguard 
•of the State was at once recognized, and also the right of the State to 
■compel the attention of parents to it. Religious and industrial instruc- 
tion were provided for, and thus the great questions which are now 
taking the lead in our country were anticipated in the beginning 
by those whom Macaulay calls " the men illustrious forever in 
history, the founders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 

And equally with the firm foundation for rudimentary instruc- 
tion, the higher education was kept in mind, and provision made 
for the high or Latin school, leading up to the university. 

But, provident as our fathers were, they did not foresee the part 
which women were to take in the future life of the Republic, and 
failed to provide for their public education on the same broad basis 
as that of men. And yet Mary Dyer and Anne Hutchinson intro- 
duced the woman question into the councils of the colony, and so 
opened it that it has been kept open till this hour, when it is still 
awaiting an answer from the justice of the State. 

But while the colony made little provision for the education of 
women, yet, as many of them came from the best class in England, 
much attention was paid to the private instruction of the daughters 

(147) 



148 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



of good families. Anne Dudley Bradstreet published a volume of 
poems in 1650, although she reeords in her verse the opposition 
made to her literary occupation. 

The public schools established in 1635 made small provision for 
women, and even in 1789, when both sexes were to be admitted, the 



H 



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m iiW' f Mr- w* - v*n> .?•>>>•■ ■*.*.*'& •.'■»* 



^•^.-cKx^ " 



jTS 



1^ ^ 



* 




SKETCH FOR WINDOW. A. F. NORTHROP. UNITED STATES. 



girls could only attend from April to October. The rule which 
was adopted, " that no children under seven years should be 
received in the schools," proved advantageous to women, for, as 
many thought instruction needful for children at an earlier age, 
Sunday-schools added secular instruction to their religious work, 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



149 



and as these schools were under the care of female teachers, a body 
of experienced women were ready to take charge of the primary 
schools when they were established, thus introducing the employ- 
ment of women as teachers, which forms so marked a feature in 
our schools. The charity schools also helped to correct the 




ENAMELED CUP— "THE FOUR SEASONS." Marie Louvet. France. 



inequality in the education of boys and girls, as they were in most 
instances established by ladies for girls only. 

While speaking of primary education I should mention its last 
development in the " Kindergarten," which was begun in Boston, 
from whence it has spread over the country. Miss Elizabeth P. 
Peabody, whose life has been devoted to education, first introduced 
Froebel's system into this country by a small kindergarten, estab- 
lished in Boston in 1861. Mrs. Pauline Agassiz Shaw established 
and supported for fifteen years sixteen free kindergartens, which 



150 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



she eventually presented, fully equipped, to the city of Boston. 
Mrs. Shaw has initiated and carried on, at her own expense and 
under her active supervision, experiments and instruction in 




COSTUME OP A YOUNG GIRL OF THE ISLE OP AMAGER. Denmark. 

manual training for public-school children, normal classes in kin- 
dergarten, and manual training for teachers, as well as industrial 
schools, vacation schools, and day-nurseries for the poor children in 
the crowded districts of Boston. She is now supplementing this 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



151 



work by liberal university-extension plans for the benefit of the 
same localities. Mrs. Shaw's private preparatory school for boys 




SCREEN — DESIGN IN NATIONAL STYLE. K. Petre. Sweden. 

and girls holds a unique position among educational institutions. 
In the course of study pursued, the natural sciences and their 
co-relation with all other branches of education hold an important 



152 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

place. The value of Mrs. Shaw's work can hardly be overesti- 
mated, it is so far-reaching in its wisdom and its influence. Miss 
Blow has done a similar work for St. Louis and the West. 

The " grammar schools " have always furnished the most 
important part of instruction to the mass of people in Massachu- 
setts. They were open to girls, but under varying conditions. 
The question of co-education of the sexes was differently settled, 
according to the prejudices of school boards or the local condition 
of the school. 

At the present time great differences in this respect may be 
found. In some towns all the schools are alike open to both sexes; 
in others the two unite in the primary. school, are separated in the 
grammar schools, and come together again in the high school. 
The high schools are generally open to both sexes, except in the 
old part of Boston, where ancient prejudice leads to the duplication 
of the high and Latin schools, and in some towns where an 
endowed school for girls was already in existence. 

While the public schools were thus progressing, both in their 
methods of work and their relation to women, it would be unfair 
not to recognize the service done by many large private schools 
and academies, some of which have retained public confidence for 
many years, advancing with the demands of the times. Without 
detracting from the merits of others, I would specially name the 
Mt. Holyoke Seminary, founded by Mary Lyon in the western part 
of the State. This was originally established in the interest of the 
(so called) Evangelical churches, and its object was understood to 
be to train women for mission life, as the wives of missionaries 
going out to foreign service. 

But, however much this purpose narrowed the scope of instruc- 
tion in its earlier days, the institution has broadened and liberal- 
ized until now it has lately received the charter of a college, and 
its graduates are often highly accomplished in branches not 
specially adapted to work among the heathens. 

Its original plan, like that of Wellesley College, contemplated 
the union of industrial labor with study, and so made a valuable 
contribution toward the discussion of the question now so promi- 
nent — industrial education. The academies generally admitted 
both sexes, and thus naturally solved the question of co-education. 

President Eliot once gave it as his opinion that the improve- 
ment of these endowed academies was the best method of giving 
women all the higher education they needed. But there was a 
dangerous tendency in them to desultory work and a want of 




HANGINGS EMBROIDERED IN THE SCHOOL OF MME. LUCE BEN-ABEN 
Moorish Girls and Women of Algiers. 



154 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

definite aim, either in preparation for a profession or in fitting for 
a college education, which made them less valuable to women than 
the public schools. 

In the larger towns and cities were many private schools of more 
or less excellence, and they are still improving in their methods 
and doing much good work, although I agree with the opinion 
expressed by a foreign educator who came to study our schools, 
that the best of them are not equal in scope and thoroughness to- 
our public schools. 

The next important step was much more practical than the 
establishment of academies, and was directly under the control of 
the State. Already in New York normal teaching had been estab- 
lished by appropriating the excess of the annual revenue of the 
Library Fund to the academies for this purpose. On March 12, 
1838, Horace Mann reported to the Massachusetts Legislature that 
" private munificence had placed conditionally at his disposal the 
sum of $10,000, to be disbursed under the Board of Education in 
qualifying teachers of our public schools." The question at once 
arose, " Should the board establish special schools, or attempt to 
engraft the department for the qualification of teachers upon the 
existing academies?" Mr. Mann opposed the latter plan, as the 
new department would be a secondary interest in the academy, and 
added: " The course of studies commonly pursued at the academies 
consists rather in an extension of knowledge into the higher 
departments of science than in reviewing and thoroughly and 
critically mastering the rudiments or elementary branches of 
knowledge." Still more, Mr. Mann maintains the superiority 
of the female teacher over the male in instructing young children,, 
and claims that the board had acted wisely " in appropriating their 
first normal school exclusively to the qualification of female teach- 
ers," a proof of his belief " in the relative efficiency of the female 
sex in the ministry of civilization." The result of these institu- 
tions is seen in the improvement of the schools of Massachusetts,, 
and the employment of the large force of women as teachers. The 
first normal school for women was established at Lexington, in 1839.. 

In Massachusetts 76 per cent of the teachers employed in the 
public schools were women as early as 1858, and the enrollment of 
women in the normal schools for the last thirteen years has varied 
from 83 to 95 per cent. The willingness of women to work for less- 
pay than men has contributed to their employment, but even when 
chosen from this motive, the work has proved so satisfactory as to- 
lead to consideration of the question of equal wages for equal work. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



m 



As yet there appears no very encouraging improvement in the 
salary of the average teacher, which about equals that of a weaver 
in a cotton mill, yet as women are advanced to higher positions, 




SPREAD AND PILLOW COVER. M. Crouvezier. FRANCE. 



and salaries are increased in proportion to length of service, there 
are some teachers sufficiently paid to encourage the devotion of the 
best talent to this service. 

The result of the normal teaching is well expressed in the 47th 



156 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Massachusetts Report: " The returns prove what reason would 
predict, that there is the same difference between trained and 
untrained teachers as in all other occupations and professions." 

While established mainly to provide competent teachers, the 
normal system has benefited women by introducing them into an 
admirable field of employment with special training. It used to 
be a current saying: " If a father dies, the daughter goes to the 
normal school." The lesson of preparation was sadly needed by 
women. Education as a training for a distinct calling was almost 
unknown among them. They were supposed to kn w " by intui- 
tion," and they gained such knowledge as became necessary in 
practical life in a hap-hazard way, going mostly to the hard school 
of Experience, whose lessons are indeed valuable, but often pur- 
chased at a terrible price. The great business of housekeeping 
was committed to women, but no training in chemistry or sanitary 
laws, or economy of food or fuel, was considered necessary to 
prepare her for the work. 

She was the nurse of the sick, and often, in early days, the mid- 
wife and doctor, but she was only furnished with a rude mass of 
traditional or empirical knowledge, which had no basis in scientific 
reasoning. 

She only knew of law by feeling its hand heavy upon her, and, 
like Anne Hutchinson, found it perilous to think freely for herself 
in matters of religion. Even in artistic pursuits the idea of train- 
ing had hardly entered her mind. It was indeed necessary to 
spend many hours at the piano to accomplish playing the " Battle of 
Prague " with the necessary dash, but nobody dreamed of any 
acquaintance with the science of music; and as regards drawing, 
when the School of Design for women was opened in 1 851, the 
young applicants were appalled on learning that six months' train- 
ing would be required before they could hope for remunerative 
employment. 

But one step leads to another, and having once tasted the 
delights of learning, women were not content with the academy 
and high school, when they saw their brothers going to the 
university. 

Two important colleges for women, Wellesley and Smith, have 
been endowed by private gifts. They are both flourishing and 
doing good service; but of greater moment was the opening of 
Boston University in 1871, which gives to women equal opportu- 
nity with men in all departments, and the opening of the Institute 
of Technology to women on perfectly equal terms with men. 




OIL PAINTING — "MOLLY'S BALL DRESS." Kate Perugini. England. 



158 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

These institutions are quietly carrying on their work, and educat- 
ing many women for teaching and professional life. Tufts College 
has followed their good example. 

The Harvard Annex, as it is usually called, is a somewhat 
anomalous institution, having no connection with the university 
of that name, except that its professors, at their own pleasure, give 
lectures to the students. It is not a regular college conferring 
degrees, but its standard is high, its instruction good, and it is thus 
helping the higher education of women. I hope it will soon lead 
our most venerable university, for whose good name we are natu- 
rally jealous, to open its doors to the women of Massachusetts, 
who have done so much for it in the past and the present time. 

The opening of Boston University in all its branches has 
superseded the necessity of separate schools for women in law and 
medicine. Its medical school is very nourishing, but it is greatly 
to be hoped that the Harvard Medical School will soon admit 
women, as the Massachusetts Medical Society has already done. 
The training schools for nurses are rapidly increasing, and the New 
England Hospital gives opportunity for clinical study. 

In plastic art and music the way is freely opened by many 
admirable schools. 

The introduction of the teaching of cooking, sewing, and gym- 
nastic instruction into the public schools, which was accomplished 
through the private beneficence of Mrs. Mary Hemenway, and of 
sanitary chemistry in the Institute of Technology, are leading up 
to a genuine training for the important business of household 
management, which should take its place among honorable and 
remunerative occupations. A club within the Association of Col- 
legiate Alumnae has made a special study of this subject, doing 
admirable work in it. Mrs. Hemenway is a citizen whom Boston 
delights to honor. Besides the great outlay of time, energy, and 
capital made in the industrial improvement of our school system, 
she has for several years supported a course of free lectures on 
American history, at the Old South Church, and has founded and 
supported several educational institutions in the Southern States. 

An important object-lesson in the political education of women 
is furnished by the attainment of suffrage in the choice of school 
committees, the appointment in a single year of some hundred and 
fifty women to this office in Massachusetts, and the election of 
women as supervisors, superintendents, and on the Board of Edu. 
cation. This reform is rapidly spreading throughout many States. 

It being impossible to treat the question of woman's education 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

EASTERN FACADE OF THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING. 

Dome of the Illinois Building in the Distance. Viewed from the Main Basin. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 161 

throughout the country in the brief space allowed, I have given 
the story of its development in Massachusetts as enabling me to 
present it in a more clear and connected form, and also because the 
roots of the whole system were planted in this colony, which was 
more truly representative of the future America perhaps than any 
other. 

But the march of education, as of empire, " westward takes it 
way," and since the opening of the great regions west of the Alle- 
ghanies to settlement, the school-house and the school-book — nor- 
mal school, college, kindergarten, and training school — have gone 
with the emigrants over the mountains, and like the plants of other 
climes found congenial soil and grown more vigorously, but they 
have left behind them many enemies and parasites that checked 
their growth in their native regions. Especially has the education 
of women thus prospered. Co-education of the sexes has found 
less prejudice to contend with in the West than in the East. The 
noble stand taken by the University of Michigan, founded in 1837, 
in opening its doors freely to women, instead of hindering its pros- 
perity, has helped to place it among the four oldest and best col- 
leges of the country in rank. 

Yale College, in Connecticut, one of the most conservative insti- 
tutions in the country, has lately taken the last step first and 
invited women to her post-graduate courses. So many other insti- 
tutions have fallen into this line of progress, that now it has been 
said by a superintendent of education that " a college course is 
looked upon as the rational and proper method of fitting a girl to 
do her share in the work of the world." 

To carry out this last idea, the alumnae of colleges admitting 
women have formed an association throughout the country to pro- 
mote education. It numbers 1,458 members, of whom 175 have 
received master's or doctor's degrees, and 31 fellowship; 55 of the 
members are married women. They have done much to promote 
many practical measures, and have formed a bureau for the employ- 
ment of teachers, which has led to a demand for college training 
for the teachers of all higher schools. It is significant, however, 
that while the highest salary for a non-resident teacher has been 
only $1,400, "the best situation has been offered by an insurance 
company for a private secretary of high attainments in stenography 
and higher mathematics." 

The normal school system has also been extended over the 
whole Union. There are some twenty-three thousand pupils in the 
schools of thirty-eight States, and 71 per cent of them are women. 
11 



162 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



In the commercial colleges, even, nearly one-third of the pupils 
are of the female sex, while in the training schools for nurses, 
now rapidly multiplying, the preponderance is, of course, the other 
way, as in 33 schools there are 956 women to 76 men. 




COPY OF WATTEAU SCREEN, LOUIS XV. DESIGN, AT THE TUILERIES. 
Worked by the Countess Tankerville. England. 



The same rapid and extensive development is seen in the 
establishment of manual training schools, so that it is difficult to 
give full statistics; but, while the men appear to outnumber women 
twelve to one, yet a very important opportunity is thus opened to 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



163 



I 



both sexes. This work has proved admirably adapted to the 
colored schools of the South, which have been such an important 
feature in American education for the last thirty years. It has 
enabled the students to pay in part for their tuition, as well as to 
undertake varied occupation on leaving school. Its excellent moral 
effect has also been noted. The branches taught are very numerous, 
from iron and wood work, brick-making, etc., to cooking, sewing, 
and fancy carving. The Le Moyne Institute has adopted the 
sensible plan of teaching the boys cooking and sewing and the 
girls carpentry work in addition to their other lessons. 

One other general feature must 

be named — the advance in sup- 
plementing by education the de- 
ficiency in the usual five senses. 
The fame of Laura Bridgman's 
development is far-spread, and 
from that wonderful experiment 
a course of training has been 
established by which the blind 
almost see, and the deaf and dumb 
speak and hear, at least so much 
as secures the development of 
their intelligence and the ability 
to lead happy and useful lives. 
Women have taken a large share 
in this work. 

It is a trite saying that "a 
republic must be based on gen- 
eral education." This slight sur- 
vey will show how much has been and is doing to lay this founda- 
tion broad and deep, and how essential it is that women, to whom 
education is so largely intrusted, not only in schools but in the far 
more important training of the home and every-day life, should 
liave every opportunity freely opened to them. 

Thus clearly has the evolution of education been progressing 
from the earliest settlement of the country until the present 
moment. A few gaps remain to be filled before women can go 
on with equal pace with men. The great law of the survival of the 
iittest will insure that — 

" What is excellent, 
As God lives, is permanent." 

Edna D. Cheney. 




DESIGN FOR HAND MIRROR. 
Mrs. E. W. Blashfield. United States. 




DESIGN FOR BANNER. Miss Digby. England. 



MUSIC IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 

FINDING myself appointed chairman of the Committee on 
Music in the Woman's Building, by Mrs. Potter Palmer, and 
feeling somewhat overcome at the immense and unexplored 
field for work that lay before me, it occurred to me that here also 
might lie the same opportunity for " helping women to help them- 
selves" that has been the underlying motive of all the woman's work 
of the Columbian Exposition; therefore I submitted, with some hesi- 
tation, a little plan for securing amateur music in the Woman's Build- 
ing to Mr. Theodore Thomas, Musical Director-General. Mr. 
Thomas found something worthy in the idea, and indorsed my plan 
heartily, lending me his advice and cooperation, which have proved 
of inestimable value. After studying the possibilities which lay in 
my original idea, that of affording a hearing in the Woman's 
Building for amateurs of distinction, I sent the following circular 
to all the Lady Managers, asking their sympathy and assistance in 
their various States : 

" Believing that the progress of American women in musical 
knowledge and experience can not be more simply and effectively 
shown, the National Committee on Music in the Woman's Building 
at the Exposition has designed a series of musical illustrations 
after the following plan, briefly outlined: It is proposed to give 
semi-monthly concerts in the Woman's Building at Chicago during 
the six months of the Exposition, at which only women or girls 
who are amateurs, possessed of talent and a high order of musical 
ability, and who have been residents of America for at least ten 
years, will be permitted to appear. The qualifications of any one 
desiring to take part must first be tested and approved by a jury 
selected by the Woman's National Committee on Music, and satis- 
factory to Theodore Thomas, Musical Director of the Exposition. 
No musical prodigy will be admitted simply as such, nor is the 
diploma of any college or conservatory either necessary or suf- 
ficient. Each candidate will be rated upon her merits, technical 
proficiency not alone being considered. Permission to appear at 

H65) 









MOORISH WOMAN PREPARING COUSCOUSSON. Algeria. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



107 



these concerts will be a mark of high honor, and will confer a last- 
ing distinction, the advantages of which can not be overestimated. 

" Minnesota has decided to bestow a medal upon each successful 
candidate belonging to that State, and it is hoped that other States 
will follow its example. The concerts are intended to provide 
a public appearance for those amateurs of distinction who are shut 
out from the concert-room of the professional, and who, for various 
reasons, may not wish to appear therein. Quartettes, trios, either 
vocal or instrumental, choral and orchestral organizations of women 
will be eligible for 
examination. The 
examinations will 
take place not later 
than February, 1893, 
eitherat Chicago or 
at several cities in 
the different States. 
It is hoped that all 
candidates for these 
concerts will com- 
municate with the 
chairman of the 
Woman's Board for 
their State, or with 
the undersigned, as 
soon as possible. It 
is also desired that 
all women following 
music as a profes- 
sion, and wishing to 
appear in the Wom- 
an's Building, will 
make application to Theodore Thomas, Musical Director of the 
Exposition. 

" The National Committee on Music in the Woman's Building 
congratulates itself that in the above plan it has the hearty sympa- 
thy of Theodore Thomas and of the entire Bureau of Music, and 
that it finds itself in complete harmony with the broader and more 
comprehensive scheme of musical illustration as outlined by Mr. 
Thomas in his first official bulletin, recently issued. It needs but 
a cordial response and earnest effort on the part of American 
women to win for their sex such a recognition as the great occasion 
alone makes possible." 




FRENCH COLBERT POINT LACE FLOUNCE. 
Exhibited by Lefebure. France. 




EMBROIDERED LINEN TOILET TABLE, DRAPERY, XVII CENTURY DESIGN. 
Made at Mme. Narischkine's School. Russia. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



109 



The responses that came to me in return were many and earnest. 
Few States in the Union failed to appoint advisory committees and 
pass upon the applicants desirous of availing themselves of this 
opportunity of being heard in the Woman's Building. Many of these 
States followed the example set by Minnesota, and awarded diplo- 
mas — in one instance a gold medal — to the successful candidates. 

The next step for the candidates, 
after passing the State examination, 
is to appear before the expert jury 
in Chicago, appointed by Mr. 
Thomas. This jury congratulates 
itself upon calling Mr. Mees of the 
Exposition orchestra its chairman, 
while the other members are the 
well-known musicians, Mrs. Clar- 
ence Eddy, Mrs. Bloomfeld Zeisler, 
and Mr. Burritt. 

Owing to the unavoidable de- 
lays attendant upon such matters, 
the first examination by the final 
jury will not take place until June 
the 1 3th, the first concert on June 
the 15th. If the " medaille d'hon- 
neur " to be awarded each suc- 
cessful candidate by Mr. 
Thomas' expert jury and the 
National Committee on Music, 
of which I have the honor to 
be chairman, prove a stepping- 
stone toward a larger sphere 
of usefulness, or a possible 
means of assisting women in 
the honorable struggle for 
independence, I shall feel that 




BROTHER AND SISTER. 



BRONZE GROUP- 

Fraulein Finzelberg. Germany. 

my work has been blessed beyond my deepest hopes. 

I can not close this brief statement without expressing my 
sincere appreciation of the interest taken in this work by Mrs. 
Palmer, to whom I am deeply indebted, as are so many other 
women, for support and encouragement. My sincere thanks are 
also due to Mr. George H. Wilson of the Bureau of Music for his 
unfailing courtesies ; and also to Mrs. Theodore Thomas, Mrs. George 
B. Carpenter, and Mrs. Edward Barbour for similar kindnesses. 

Lena Burton Clarke. 




EMBROIDERED SCREEN. Gabrielle Delessert, nee de Laborde. France. 



CONGRESSES IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 

THE daily introduction of one or more distinguished women of 
this and other countries to the large and appreciative audi- 
ences which throng our Assembly Room is found to be one 
of the leading attractions of the Woman's Building. 

This feature was inaugurated under a resolution passed by the 
Board of Lady Managers providing for a committee on Congresses 
to be held in the Woman's Building. Mrs. Potter Palmer appointed 



nr 



CARVED WOOD PANEL. Albertina Nordstrom. United States. 

the following ladies to serve on this important committee: Mrs. 
James P. Eagle of Arkansas, chairman, Mrs. Helen M. Barker of 
South Dakota, Miss Laurette Lovell of Arizona, Miss Ellen M. 
Russell of Nevada, Mrs. Susan R. Ashley of Colorado, Mrs. L. M. 
N. Stevens of Maine, and Mrs. Lewis of Illinois. Before the com- 
mittee was called together it lost two valued members, Mrs. Susan 
R. Ashley, who resigned from the Board on account of ill health, 
and Mrs. Lewis by decease. Mrs. John J. Bagley of Michigan and 
Mrs. L. Brace Shattuck of Illinois were appointed to fill the 
vacancies. 

Owing to the nature of the work of this committee, which 
required an immense amount of correspondence, the most careful 

(171) 



172 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



keeping of records of all engagements and partial engagements, 
the arrangement of dates to meet the convenience of the 300 and 
more women who are to appear on the programme during the 




OIL PAINTING— "THOUGHTS." Fraulein Lubbes. Germany. 

Exposition, and the keeping up with the post office addresses of 
the busy throng, it was found almost impossible to divide the work 
by assigning certain duties to each member of the committee. At 
the first meeting of the committee resolutions were passed indicat- 



IN THE WOMANS' BUILDING. 173 

ing the character of work desired, and instructing the chairman to 
proceed to fill up the programme by providing one or two gifted 
women to read papers or deliver addresses each day during the 
Exposition. When the nature of the subject permits, an oppor- 
tunity for free discussion is afforded. 

Every avocation, profession, department, or line of work, of 
whatsoever nature, that has enlisted the interest and activity of 
women will be offered an opportunity for presentation through 
their most distinguished advocates at some time during these six 
months of daily intellectual feasts for women. 

It is a rare opportunity for persons visiting the Exposition to be 
brought in touch with many distinguished contemporary women of 
this and other countries, whose names are known throughout the 
civilized world, and who have consented to aid our work. 

If in a different age and under other governments women have 
been suppressed, at the Columbian Exposition at least they are 
guaranteed the right of free speech under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances. Such a dissemination of thought can not fail to broaden 
woman's sphere of usefulness and facilitate her advancement. 

The golden opportunity for women has for some wise purpose 
been reserved to this good time, and is now placed in the hands of 
the women of our country, to crown the Columbian year. With 
united effort and singleness of purpose our Board has worked with 
the view of uplifting and benefiting all classes of women the world 
over. All the results of their labor they can not hope to see, but 
the children of to-day may behold it to-morrow. This department, 
providing for interchange of ideas and the close communion 
of thought, which always tends to overcome prejudice, and knit 
together the highest interests of humanity, will not be an unim- 
portant factor when the grand result of the perfect whole is 
calculated. 

Mary K. O. Eagle. 



•■'••• 



• 




CARVED BUFFET. Countess Tankerville. England. 



ASSOCIATIONS OF WOMEN. 

THE parable of the mustard-seed, of the great tree that grows 
from the smallest beginnings, is illustrated by many facts 
of common experience, and nowhere more than in the his- 
tory of the beginning and progress of the associations among 
women, which have come to play so important a part in the 
development of American society. Sporadic instances of women's 
clubs appear here and there in the history of the last fifty years, 
but the movement which has culminated in the General Federa- 
tion of Women's Clubs may be said to have had its beginning 
twenty-five years ago, when, within a few weeks of each other, 
the New England Woman's Club of Boston and the Sorosis of 
New York came into being, each with a name and plan of action. 
The first of these had its immediate origin in a desire to furnish 
some convenient place for meeting and resting to the many ladies 
who reside in the suburbs of Boston, and are often called to the city 
by various occasions of business or of pleasure. Several ladies, 
remarkable for sound judgment and superior culture, associated 
themselves in this enterprise, and established it on a practical 
basis. Parlors were engaged in a central part of the city, and the 
club was duly installed, its numbers at the first amounting to one 
hundred and eighteen — with seventeen associate members. The 
locale being secured, plans of utilizing it began to develop themselves, 
resulting in the institution of a weekly meeting for the hearing of 
lectures and the discussion of topics considered of importance. 
These exercises rapidly increased in interest and value, and the 
Mondays of the month — Monday being the chosen day — were en- 
trusted to the care of various committees. The first Monday in the 
month belonged to the Art and Literature Committee, and was occu- 
pied by a lecture, usually by an outsider, followed by a short discus- 
sion of the topic presented. The second Monday was assigned to 
the Discussion Committee, and was wholly devoted to its work, which 
was introduced by a short paper contributed by a member of the 
club. The third Monday was given to the Work Committee, and 
at this meeting many grave topics of public interest were pre- 

(175) 



176 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



sented, often by experts, and commented upon. The fourth Monday, 
at first reserved for some popular entertainment, was at last given 
in charge to the Committee on Education. To these occasions was 
soon added a Club Tea, following the discussion of the Work 
Committee afternoon. 

The club embraced in its membership a number of able women, 
and the zeal of the more thoughtful soon made itself felt through- 




TAPESTRY FROM RAPHAEL'S CARTOON, 
FISHES." Annie Lyman. 



'THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF 
United States. 



out the whole body. Questions very important to the community, 
and reforms which have proved very valuable, were sometimes 
started at these meetings, and have been much forwarded by the 
action of the club. While remaining distinctively a woman's club, 
a few eminent men were admitted to its fellowship. Prominent 
among these were William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
the poet Whittier, and noble Judge Sewall, the untiring champion 
of the political and civil rights of women. Miss Abby W. May, a 
woman eminent in the community for judgment and character, was 
the life-long chairman of the Work Committee. Mrs. Caroline M. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



177 



Severance was the first president of the club. The writer of this 
paper succeeded her, and has remained in that office ever since. 
The secretary from the start has been Miss Lucia M. Peabody, well 
known in her earlier life as one of the ablest educators in New 
England. The club, whose membership has extended to 230, has 




MINIATURE. Camille Isbert. France. 

for years past occupied pleasant parlors on Park Street, a region 
once consecrated to highest fashion. 

The methods of the New York Sorosis were somewhat different 
from those just described. This club chose for its place of meeting 
a large and convenient parlor in Delmonico's well-known restau- 
rant, where luncheon was usually served to them. Their meetings 
were once a fortnight, and while sometimes devoted to the gravest 

questions, were often enlivened by music and recitations. The 
12 



178 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



membership is larger than that of the New England Women's 
Club, the annual fee for each being ten dollars, with an initiation fee 
of five dollars. This club has a good record, having always been 
active in works of charity and in social and aesthetic culture. The 
Association for the Advancement of Women, of which we shall 
presently speak, was first planned by members of Sorosis, and the 
general federation of women's clubs, which is now so prominent 
in the country, was also devised by it, a similar plan having been 




ARABIAN EMBROIDERY FROM SCHOOL FOR MOORISH AND ALGERIAN GIRLS. 
Exhibited by Mme. Luce Ben-Aben. Algeria. 



suggested in the New England Women's Club, but not carried into 
action. 

The Fortnightly Club and the Woman's Club, both of Chicago, 
next claim our attention. The first of these was founded by Mrs. 
Kate Newell Doggett, a woman of much intelligence, energy, and 
cultivation. Being herself a sedulous student of foreign literature, 
of botany, and sociology, she made every effort to inspire the ladies 
of her city with a love for the same high pursuits. The Fort- 
nightly has always been purely literary in character, and has done 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



179 



much to improve the tone and taste of Chicago society. The 
Woman's Club, instituted by Mrs. Caroline N. Brown some years 
later, has had a more varied scope, including - in its interests reform 
and humanitarian action. To this club is owing the appointment 




PORTRAIT OF PRINCE BARIATINSKY. Princess Olga Bariatinsky. Russia. 



of matrons on the Chicago police force, a measure which has been 
attended with very good results. Each of these clubs has had, until 
lately, a parlor of its own, and as these were in the same building, 
each could sometimes enjoy the advantages of both rooms. I will 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 181 

only further say that both clubs are now in active and successful 
operation. 

The Association for the Advancement of Women, familiarly 
spoken of as the A. A. W., was instituted by the New York Sorosis in 
1873. Mrs. Jenny June Croly had, at an earlier period, issued a call 
for a congress of women, which resulted in the holding of a parlia- 
mentary conference in the city of New York. No organization, 
however, resulted from this. At the date given above a call was 
issued to women of many pursuits and occupations, some of them 
already known by reputation. This was signed by the president of 
Sorosis, and other officers. The first congress was held in New 
York, and was largely attended. Mrs. Livermore was its presi- 
dent; Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour, then president of Sorosis, was 
chairman of the executive committee. The meetings lasted for 
three days, and the papers and discussions received very favorable 
notice in the public prints. Conspicuous among those who 
attended it were Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Isabella Beecher 
Hooker, Mrs. Sara Spencer of Washington, D. C, Antoinette Brown 
Blackwell, and Maria Mitchell, professor of astronomy at Vassar 
college, and the writer. Miss Alice C. Fletcher, now so well 
known as a student of ethnology and as a friend to the Indians, 
was the efficient and valued secretary of the association. This 
congress resulted in the formation of a permanent association, 
whose office it became to hold a yearly congress in various impor- 
tant cities of the Union, with a special view to the instruction of 
their own sex and the formation of women's clubs, many of which 
resulted from its influence. The plan of the Association was rather 
vague at first, but the labor bestowed upon it resulted in the forma- 
tion of various committees, among which its work was divided. 
Its second president was Maria Mitchell, who served in that capac- 
ity with great acceptance for two years. She was succeeded by 
Mrs. Doggett of Chicago, who in turn was followed by Mrs. Julia 
Ward Howe, who still remains president of the association. The 
congresses have been held in Boston, Providence, Portland (Me.), 
Syracuse, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Denver, Toronto, Baltimore, 
Cleveland, Louisville, Memphis, and other cities, and in all of these 
places have awakened great interest and have stimulated associa- 
tion among women. 

The two parent clubs, the Sorosis and the New England 
Women's Club, were soon consulted by various bodies of women 
desiring to form similar associations. To these all possible help and 
encouragement was given by the New England Club, and, presum- 



182 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

ably, by its sister Sorosis, and far and wide throughout the land 
the club movement grew and the circles multiplied. These bodies 
were very various in their plans and pursuits, but all were deter- 
mined to do good work, and their record has been such as to win a 
place in the public esteem for what was at first considered a dan- 
gerous and man-aping innovation. The word club, indeed, is sus- 
ceptible of more than one interpretation, and to many, no doubt, 
may have at first suggested the thought of careless manners and 
of idle conversation. At one of the recent woman's congresses 
a speaker playfully asked whether men at their clubs occupied 
themselves in discussing the proper ordering of their households, 
the education of their children, and kindred subjects. The ques- 
tion called forth some laughter from the audience, who were well 
aware that, while these topics receive much attention in women's 
clubs, they are not prominently brought forward in those fre- 
quented by men. 

An important era in club history was marked by the institution 
of a general federation of women's clubs, which, like the A. A. W., 
was first called for by the New York Sorosis, and has now become 
an important factor in the community. The first president of the 
federation was Mrs. Charlotte Emerson Brown of Orange, N. J. 
This lady proved eminently qualified for the position to which she 
was called, having devoted much time and labor to the affairs of 
the federation, and having shown in her work a truly catholic and 
disinterested spirit. At the close of her first term of office she was 
reelected with almost entire unanimity. She reports the number of 
clubs in the federation as over three hundred. The conventions 
of this body are biennial, the first having been held in New York 
and the second in Chicago. 

This general union is likely to be supplemented by State feder- 
ations, which may hold State conventions. This plan is not yet 
perfected. 

The associations for study, and those devoted to benevolent 
action connected with churches of all denominations, can not be 
here enumerated. Among them, however, we may mention as 
being of especial interest, the Zenana Missions in India, instituted 
and supported by these associations. The Society for the Encour- 
agement of Studies at Home, although in no sense a club, should 
yet be mentioned with honor among the associations of women. 
Its work is done by correspondence, and its years already number 
twenty. The following quotation from an authorized statement 
gives us in brief some of its features: 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



183 



" In all, more than six thousand women appear on the rolls, 
geographically distributed over forty-three States, one Territory, 
and Canada. 

" The methods include regular correspondence, memory notes, 
monthly reports of work done, frequent examinations on books or 
subjects — answered on honor — arranged to help the student to order 
and make truly hers the newly acquired knowledge; and abstracts 




SILK AND GOLD EMBROIDERED PANEL. 

Working Woman's Society of Vienna. Austria. 



of books, or papers on special points, required according to the 
ability of the student. 

" In the seventeen years of the society's life nearly all grades of 
social position have been represented by our students — women 
of leisure, many of whom soon became helpers in the work; 
teachers, including a colored one in the South; graduates of col- 



184 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

leges, some studying for a second degree; a telegraph operator, a 
compositor, a matron of a public institution, women from towns, 
and others from remote places, one of whom writes: ' With my 
lesson, copied at night, pinned to the kitchen wall, I find the 
drudgery of dishwashing removed.' " 

The Women's Press Clubs are a novel feature, and should be 
mentioned with commendation. Their members are generally too 
closely occupied to partake very largely of the enjoyments of club 
life. Their meetings, however, are pleasant and instructive, and 
have done much to improve the tone of women's contributions to 
the press. These associations exist in Boston, Chicago, New York, 
and many other places. 

The writer remembers the days in which a single woman 
reporter would shyly creep into place among half a dozen or more 
of the other sex. Matters are very much changed in this respect, 
and the group of bright young faces at the reporters' table, bearing 
the marks of thought and education, is now a happy feature at many 
public meetings. 

In the Woman's Building in Chicago many associations are 
represented in addition to those already spoken of. The Women's 
Christian Temperance Union has now a world-wide reputation and 
efficiency. The various suffrage associations occupy space and will 
hold meetings from time to time. 

The associations of women in these days are so numerous that 
we may say their name is legion, and while we salute them all 
with esteem and good will, we should find it impossible within our 
present limits to give them fuller characterization or to do more 
than very partial justice to their merits. 

Julia Ward Howe. 



LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS GRANTED SPACE IN THE WOMAN'S 

BUILDING. 

Ladies' Catholic Benevolent Association _ _ . Syracuse, N. Y. 

King's Daughters _______ New York City. 

Association for Advancement of Women _ . .241 Beacon Street, Boston. 

National Council of Women _____ Indianapolis, Ind. 

National W. C. T. U. _ _ _ _ _ _ . New York City. 

Non-Partisan W. C. T. U. _ _ _ _ _ Washington, D. C. 

Promotion of Physical Culture _____ Chicago, 111. 

Emma Willard Association _____ New York City. 

Woman's Relief Corps ______ Sabetha, Kan. 

International Committee of Y. W. C. A. _ _ . Chicago, 111. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



185 



Association of Collegiate Alumnae .... Washington, D. C. 

Shut-in Society ....... Millersville, Pa. 

P. E. O. Sisterhood ....... Nelson, Neb. 

Federation of Clubs __._... Orange, N. J. 

Woman's Columbia Club ...... Wichita, Kan. 

American Society of Authors _ Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Woman's Educational Industrial Association _ . Boston. 

Home of the Merciful Savior for Crippled Children . Philadelphia, Pa. 

Chicago Woman's Club ______ Chicago, 111. 

Columbian Association of Housekeepers . . _ Chicago, 111. 

National Science Club ___.... Oberlin, Ohio. 

International Woman's Christian Association . _ St. Louis, Mo. 

New York Association of Working Girls . . _ New York. 

Stanton Woman's Relief Corps ..... Stanton, Cal. 

South End Flower Mission ... _ Chicago, 111. 

National Deaconesses, Conference . Chicago, 111. 

Woman's Branch Congress Auxiliary .... Chicago, 111. 

Ladies' Hermitage Association .... Nashville, Tenn. 

Eastern Star --__.___ Chicago, 111. 

Nebraska Ceramic Club ______ Omaha, Neb. 

The Needlework Guild -...__ New York City. 

Monticello Seminary ______ Godfrey, 111. 

Girls' Mutual Benefit Club ______ Chicago, 111. 

Mary Washington Monument Association _ _ Chicago, 111. 

Woman's Board of Missions (Congregational) . . Boston, Mass. 

Woman's Board of the Interior _ Chicago, 111. 

Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions _ _ _ Chicago, 111. 

Woman's National Press Federation _ _ . Washington, D. C. 

Woman's Home Missionary (M. E.) Evanston, 111. 

Woman's Foreign Missionary (M. E.) _ _ _ Evanston, 111. 

L'Union des Femmes de France ..... Paris, France. 

Woman's Work for Women .... Chicago, 111. 

Girls' Friendly Society _ _ _ . . _ New York, N. Y. 

National Press League ______ Chicago, 111. 

Woman's Club of Wisconsin _____ Milwaukee, Wis. 

Woman's National Indian Association _ _ _ Philadelphia, Pa. 



EDUCATIONAL. 

Alumna. Pratt Institute ._.___ Brooklyn. 

Bryn Mawr School --...__ Baltimore. 

American College for Girls _ Turkey. 

School of Applied Arts _-.__. New York. 

Technical School of Design _____ New York. 

Lasell Seminary _______ Auburndale, Mass. 

Helmuth College ________ London, Ontario. 

Industrial College of Mississippi _ Columbus, Miss. 




PORTRAIT OF A CHILD. Alice Grant. England. 



THE CHILDREN'S BUILDING. 

THERE are certain departments of the Fair whose interest is 
rather special than general ; there are others (and these far 
outnumber the former) which have a universal interest. 
Foremost among these stands the Children's Building. There may 
he a few misanthropes of both sexes among our visitors who will 
declare themselves indifferent to what women are doing in the world, 
but I believe there is no man or woman who visits the Fair who will 
not be glad to peep into the children's house. There are some crusty 
old bachelors and a few childless women who make a pretense of 
disliking children, but it's a flimsy sort of sour-grape antipathy, and 
rarely rings true. Even those people who do not like children's 
society will find a great deal to enjoy in their domicile. The 
sternest bachelor was a boy once, and he will have a sort of retro- 
spective enjoyment of our great play-house in conjuring up his own 
youthful image swinging from the rings, leaping over the horses, 
and exercising on the parallel bars of our gymnasium. All the 
world loves a lover, all the world loves a child. Many of us fear 
children, and with reason; their bright eyes, their unsophisticated 
judgments, make them keen and wholesome critics of their elders' 
actions. But we love them for two reasons. They recall life's morn- 
ing, when tears, and smiles, and passions were quickly roused and 
quickly banished; when the world was a great treasure-house, and 
the years were eagerly added to our span because each brought 
greater freedom to go out and gather the fairy gold and jewels 
lying in heaps before us. Childhood typifies for each of us the 
unsullied purity of his own soul ; we love it for this, and again we 
love it because in the tiny hands of the infant we tend so carefully 
the future destiny of our race is clinched. Manhood and woman- 
hood stand for the living present, but childhood stands for the past 
and for the future, and what one of us would exchange the bitter- 
sweet memories of yesterday, the dreamy visions of to-morrow, for 
the common-sense reality of to-day? 

The Children's Building stands close to the Woman's Building, 
nestling under its eaves in a very natural manner. It is a pleasant 

(189) 




OLD BAPTISMAL GOWN. Baroness Reedtz Thott. Denmark. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



191 



two-storied edifice, with a roof garden, a large gymnasium, a 
library, a workshop, and all the other departments which that 
wonderfully complex creature, the modern child, requires for its 
development. 




MOSES' CRADLE. Mlle. Susse. Ancienne Maison Marindaz. France. 



The Children's Building is intended to be, primarily, an educa- 
tional exhibit. As the Transportation Building exhibits all the 



192 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

marvelous improvements in methods of transportation, from the 
cumbrous cart drawn by oxen to the palace car equipped with every 
luxury and convenience the genius of man can devise, so the 
Children's Building aims to exhibit the most improved methods 




OIL PAINTING — "THE BATH." 
Mme. Demont-Breton (Daughter of Jules Breton). France. 

adopted in the light of the nineteenth century for the rearing and 
education of children. 

We have endeavored to make the exhibition as complete as 
possible, beginning with the infant at its earliest and most helpless 
stage. This department is in charge of Miss Maria M. Love of 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 193 

Buffalo, a member of the Board of Women Managers of New York. 
Miss Love is carrying on a model creche. A large, light, and airy 
room is devoted to the creche. In this is demonstrated the most 
healthful, comfortable, and rational system of dressing and caring 
for young children. 

Short lectures are given upon their food, clothing, and sleeping 
arrangements, and in connection with the creche there is an exhi- 
bition of infants' clothing of all nations and times, their cradles, 
and other furniture. 

As the child grows and its mental faculties develop, the kinder- 
garten succeeds the creche ; in the gracious atmosphere of its 
intelligent training the child-nature expands and develops sym- 
metrically. This department of child-life is demonstrated in the 
most complete manner. 

The kindergarten under this management is fitted up in the 
most attractive manner. All the latest apparatus necessary to the 
best exposition of the work has been provided. Little children 
developing daily their intellectual and moral faculties uncon- 
sciously, by means of the most fascinating entertainments, will be 
an object-lesson of great practical value to mothers and others 
having the care of children. 

Closely allied to the kindergarten is the kitchengarden. Miss 
Emily Huntington of New York, the founder of this system of 
education, conducts a kitchengarden, where classes of little folks 
are taught the useful arts of homekeeping. In so interesting and 
delightful a manner are sweeping, dusting, bedmaking, and cook- 
ing taught, that what might otherwise be an irksome task to chil- 
dren becomes an amusing recreation. 

For older children there will be a school for slojd, supported by 
Mrs. Quincy Shaw, and conducted by Gustav Larsson. Here an 
exhibit of wood-carving may be seen. 

Physical development is aptly illustrated by the North Ameri- 
can Turner-Bund. These interesting classes will inspire many a 
lad to seek after that physical perfection that was the pride of the 
Greeks and Romans. 

Mrs. Clara Doty Bates, chairman of the committee on literature 
for children of the Congress Auxiliary, has charge of the library, 
and has fitted it up tastefully, providing a full supply of children's 
literature. A large number of portraits of the most eminent 
authors of children's books adorn the walls. Here may be found 
the books of all lands, and in all languages, their newspapers, 
periodicals, etc. 

13 



194 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



A request sent out by the Board of Lady Managers to foreign 
countries, asking contributions of children's literature, met with a 
prompt response, and ioo volumes have been received. 

The committee on literature for children of the Congress 
Auxiliary assumed the furnishing of the library. Its idea was — 
so far as books are concerned— to select the library from the child's 
and youth's standard, not from the point of view of the adult. 




WATER-COLOR. Rosina Emmet Sherwood. United States. (Copyrighted.) 

The books the children most longed for were to be upon the shelves, 
rather than the books their elders thought most suitable to them. 
To really get at an average preference in children, boys and girls of 
all ages were consulted and asked to send lists of their favorite 
books. 

The matter was placed before many public and private schools, 
and the chairman of the committee received hundreds of letters 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 195 

from children, from which she expected to make up her final 
catalogue. 

But an unexpected obstacle — indeed one so formidable that it 
wholly blocked the way in that direction — now appeared. It was, 
that the publishers had been so industriously solicited from numer- 




CRADLE. With Applique of Mirecourt Lace. Hand-made. France. 

ous other quarters that they looked upon this final straw as the 
one that made the burden unendurable. 

They declined to send even the very modest number of books 
asked for. It looked as if the library would be of a novel kind — 
one entirely without books. 



1 ( J6 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Baffled in that direction, a new plan was made. If the library 
could not be representative it could at least be interesting. A large 
number of writers for children in Europe and America were 
requested by personal letter each to send one book, with an auto- 
graph inside. This plan has proved most effective. 

A very interesting collection of authors' copies has been made. 
So much for the nucleus of the library. 

For its decoration we have more than a hundred portraits of 




BOLERO VEST IN WHITE SATIN EMBROIDERED IN GOLD. 
Mme. Pailleron. France. 

writers — photographs with autographs affixed whenever possible — 
and prints, from the life-size to the mere cabinet. 

St. Nicholas, Harper s Young People, Wide Awake, and the 
Youth's Companion make exhibits of original sketches from which 
their publications have been illustrated, valuable manuscripts, 
autographs, etc., together with the various processes by which, step 
by step, a complete magazine is produced. 

Besides these there are interesting loans of manuscripts, artists' 
sketches, and photographs. One of these is a collection of views of 




EngraTed by Rand, McNally & Co. 
STATUE OF INNOCENCE. EXHIBITED B vf MEXICO 



IN HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



199 



all the haunts 
of Henry D. 
Thoreau, to- 
gether with va- 
rious portraits 
of him. 

This author, 
while not in 
any sense a 
writer for chil- 
dren, is given 
this promi- 
nence in the 
house dedi- 
cated to them 
to attract their 
attention to his 
high pursuit of 
nature. 

Upon the ta- 
ble are placed 
each month 
several copies 
of all the favor- 
ite children's 
pe r io dicals. 
These are for 
the use of the 
children. A 
number of il- 
lustrated books 
have been sent, 
with the stipu- 
lation that chil- 
dren are to 
have them in 
constant serv- 
ice. 

Pennsylva- 
nia equips and 
maintains a de- 
partment in 




EMBROIDERED PANELS. 
Exhibited by Mme. Leroudier of Lyons. France. 



IN THE woman's building. 201 

the Children's Building, showing the wonderful progress that has 
been made in teaching very young deaf mutes to speak. Miss Mary 
Garrett, secretary of the Home for Teaching Deaf Mutes to Speak, 
is in charge of this department. Daily demonstrations are given. 

There is a department of Public Comfort in connection with the 
Children's Building, intended especially for the benefit of children. 
One hundred infants and small children are received and placed 
in the care of competent nurses, who, for a small fee, provide for all 
their wants while their mothers are visiting the various departments 
of the Exposition. 

For the amusement of visiting children there is a large play- 
ground on the roof; this is inclosed with a strong wire netting, so 
the children are perfectly safe. This playground is very attractive, 
ornamented with vines and flowers. Here, under cover, are 
exhibited toys of all nations, from the rude playthings of the 
Esquimau children to the wonderful toys which at once instruct 
and amuse. These toys are used to entertain the children. 

The building has an assembly-room, containing rows of little 
chairs, and a platform from which stereopticon lectures are given 
to the older boys and girls, about foreign countries, their languages, 
manners, and customs, and important facts connected with their 
history. These talks are given by kindergarteners, who then take 
the groups of children to see the exhibits from the countries about 
which they have just heard. Mr. T. H. McAllister of New York 
has generously given the use of the most approved stereopticon for 
this purpose, and the services of an operator of the same during the 
entire Exposition. This audience-room is also available for mu- 
sical, dramatic, and literary entertainments, which will be carefully 
planned to suit the intelligence of children of various ages. 

The Children's Building has no appropriation from the Exposi- 
tion authorities. The Board of Lady Managers has assumed the 
responsibility of raising the money necessary for its erection. 

It has been at a great outlay of time and strength that the 
money for the Children's Building has been raised and judiciously 
expended, but no one of the many workers who have contributed 
these precious building materials, time, and strength have grudged 
the costly sacrifice they have made. We believe not only that the 
children who enjoy our building's hospitality will be benefited by 
our work, but that the children in every State of the Union, in 
every country of the world, will directly or indirectly profit by 
it, and in this happy result we shall find an ample reward for what 
we have done. 

Emma B. Dunlap. 



^ 

' 

,• 










FRANCE. 

AT the request of the managers of the International Expo- 
sition at Chicago, the French government, under date of 
July 8, 1892, appointed a committee of ladies charged with 
the preparation of a special woman's exhibit for the Woman's 
Building. The first act of this committee was to draw up a pro- 
gramme and establish a general classification. But before pro- 
ceeding to particulars touching the status of woman in France 
and the conditions affecting her work in industrial, commercial, 
and agricultural pursuits, her part in education, in the arts, the 
liberal professions, and the many departments of labor wherein 
foresight, sympathy, and economy are requisite, the committee 
has deemed it important to show, by the aid of a certain number 
of graphic charts, what is in France the true position of women 
compared with that of men in the different aspects of social 
life in general; that is to say, in married or single life, in the 
building up of the family, vitality, etc. It is with this object 
and in vieAV, especially, of the Exposition at Chicago, that the 
committee has drawn up the first statistics ever essayed of the 
demographic part played by women in social economy. Thus an 
important part of our general statistics has been devoted to this 
entirely new study. 

We have devised a series of charts, chronologically and 
methodically arranged by departments and districts, in which 
are shown the proportion of the two sexes in the general 
population, variation in the date of marriages according to age, 
locality, and the duration of married life, the number of children 
therein born, the vitality, longevity, and mortality of women com- 
pared with those of men, and so on. 

In another department of inquiry the part of women in emigra- 
tion and immigration has been shown by a certain number of 
special charts. The committee has elaborated a still more special 
programme, with a view to classify the diverse economical func- 
tions of women. The principal features of this programme are as 
follows : 

(203) 



in the woman s building. 205 

Section i. — Education. Physique. Morals. 
Instruction: Primary, secondary, superior. 

Institutions: Schools, lyceums (colleges), courses of instruction. 
Grades of liberal culture open to women. 

Section 2. 
Institutions of philanthropy and social economy founded by 
women or depending largely upon their cooperation. 

Section 3. 
Manual labor: Industrial, commercial, administrative, and so 
on, for use either in home or in the workshop. 

Section 4. — Art. 

Under this head we have made the following division: 

Fine arts, properly so called, namely, painting, drawing, sculpt- 
ure, music. 

Industrial and decorative art. 

Literature. 

In this last division are comprehended works produced by 
women relating especially to art criticism, the drama, romance, 
history, etc. 

For an exhibit of each of these sections the committee desired 
that all contributions should be so arranged as to facilitate public 
inspection, in an attractive and condensed form. To this end 
all works produced by, or relating to, women have been divided 
into two classes, both well defined. 

First — General statistics embracing the economic and social 
condition of women in France, together with special accounts of 
philanthropic works and industrial institutions illustrating these 
general statistics. 

Second — Various articles displaying the labor and talent of 
the exhibitors. 

The main features of the exhibit being thus outlined, the fol- 
lowing is the order of details pertaining to each section: 

Section i. — Education. Instruction. 

Here woman is considered as the first instructor, receiving the 
child from the cradle, rearing, educating, and directing her charge 
until, in his turn, the object of her care shall be called upon to 
found a new family. Monographs and general data are supplied 
relating to children's aid societies, apprenticeships, grades of 
instruction given to girls, women's education at the time of 




EMBROIDERED BROCADE AFTER TAMBOUR WORK OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
Designed by Lady Henry Grosvenor. England. 




EMBROIDERED WHITE SATIN CUSHION. Princess Louise OF Denmark. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



207 



marriage, diplomas and rewards of merit obtainable, the profes- 
sions adopted by women, number of elementary schools, both public 
and private, boarding-schools, professional institutes, colleges, and 
advanced courses of study. 




PAINTING. Louise Abbema. France. 



A number of specimens of needlework, etc., have been contrib- 
uted by orphan asylums and working-women's schools. 



Section 2. — Works and Institutions Connected with 

Philanthropy and Social Economy. 
The committee is convinced that philanthropic labors, which 
constitute woman's " domain," and in which her heart and intellect 





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IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 209 

find so wide a field of profitable endeavor, will prove of the deepest 
interest. 

This second section is devoted to monographs concerning works 
of private benevolence, such as creche societies for the rescue and 
protection of children, orphan asylums, workmen's infirmaries, the 
occupation of sick-nurses, sisters of charity, deaconesses; to state 
works, such as women's hospitals, clinics, societies for the aid of 
wounded soldiers, and health retreats, houses of refuge, of protec- 
tion, and of correction; societies in aid of penitent liberated con- 
victs, cooperative societies of mutual help, economy, and protection. 

Careful study has been bestowed upon the savings of women, 
the number of bank-depositors, and the sums placed to the credit 
of women as compared with those of men, the amount of savings in 
relation to professions, their average amount, and the progress and 
growth of women's deposits. 

Some of the reports furnished by the above-named establish- 
ments, at the request of the committee, have been arranged in the 
form of mural charts, and others have been gathered in an album, 
entitled an " Album of Women's Work," for the convenient study 
of the public. 

Section 3. — Women's Work. 

The work of women has been classified under the heads of 
manual, industrial, commercial, administrative, etc. 

The committee has carefully ascertained throughout the depart- 
ments of France the proportion of working-women of all classes, 
especially tnose engaged in agriculture and industrial occupations, 
and the amount of wages gained at different epochs and in 
different seasons. 

The conditions of labor have received particular attention, and 
with the object of obtaining the desired information a special cir- 
cular, containing appropriate inquiries, was addressed to those in 
charge of the principal industrial establishments. 

These inquiries regarded the number of women employed, 
daily hours of labor, wages paid, and societies of social economy 
intended for the assistance of employes. The replies to these 
queries are gathered in the album entitled, " Conditions of Labor 
Among Women." 

The tasks intrusted to women in the world of business and the 
various public and private responsibilities attaching thereto have 
likewise been classified in the album just spoken of. This includes 
the services of women in post offices, telegraph and telephone 

14 




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IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 211 

offices, State manufactories, the Bank of France, the Credit Foncier, 
the Credit Lyonnais, etc. The great railway companies have sup- 
plied the committee with important data bearing upon this subject, 
which, being incorporated in the reports, can not fail to awaken a 
lively interest. 

With regard to women's work, especially so called, the appeal of 
the committee has received attention from a considerable number 
of exhibitors. 

Among these works special attention should be called to the 
lace contributed by the house of M. Lefebure, one article of which, 
belonging to the Museum of Decorative Art, may justly be consid- 
ered unique; the embroideries of Mme. Delessert, of the Countess 
Greffuhle, Mme. Charlotte Georges Ville, Mme. de Clermont- 
Tonnerre, Mme. Edouard Pailleron, and of the house of Henry. 
Mention should also be made of the exhibit of N. J. Nayrolles, who 
displays a portiere which is an exact reproduction of one executed 
for the president of the French Republic; the curtains of M. 
Ware; the linen drapery and robe de chambre of antique velvet 
and old Colbert lace of Mme. Franck; infants' wardrobes of Mme. 
Susse; the embroideries of Mme. Leroudier; the bonnets of Mme. 
Esther Mayer and M. Auguste Petit; the corsets and petticoats of 
Mme. Bureau-Bigot; the white embroideries of the house of M. Crou- 
vezier; the gloves of Grenoble; parasols of M. Ahrweiler; the gold 
embroidery of M. Vaugeois-Binot and M. J. Henry of Lyons; the 
panels of Mme. Tignet and Mme. Maillot; the large and small 
screens made by young girls in the house of refuge founded by 
Mme. Coralie-Cohen at Neuilly-Suresnes; and the flowers of Mme. 
Boullerot, etc. 

The committee, persuaded that the exhibit would be more 
attractive if the display were set off by an appropriate entourage, 
has designed a charming "salon regence" adorned with the follow- 
ing works of art: The tapestry exhibited by M. Braquenie, the 
" Awakening of Psyche;" a bust of Sophie Arnould, by Mme. 
Leon Bertaux; a panel by Mme. Leroudier; the Sevres vase, 
designed and painted by Mme. Escallier; vases by Mme. Appoil; 
flowers, Countess Beaulincourt ; screen, Countess Greffuhle; bas- 
ket of orchids, lilacs, and roses from the house of M. Patay; a 
Stand painted by Mme. Gabrielle Neiter; toilettes by Mme. Sarah 
Meyer and A. Morhauge; the same for young girls, by Mme. Susse; 
the screen in charcoal-drawing of Mile. Coesme, and that embroid- 
ered by the work-women of the Damon & Colin house; table- 
cloths, Mme. Franck; decorated faience, Mme. Decamps Sabouret, 




EXHIBITS OF LA MAISON HENRY (A LA Pensee). France. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 213 

the work of the house of M. Henry; reproductions, chiefly of classic 
works; and finally the small library of books written by women, 
comprising women's works, selected by Mme. Jules Siegfried, and 
giving a more serious tone to the exhibit. 

To complete the section a history of French costume, from the 
period of the Gauls to the present time, has been prepared by 
the committee, and proves to be full of interest. An exhibit to 
illustrate the subject has consequently been furnished by the Profes- 
sional Society 1' Aiguille, in the shape of dolls dressed according 
to authentic records contained in museums, pictures, and docu- 
ments, and executed with perfect fidelity to historical details. 

Section 4. — Art. 

Feminine art has been considered under two heads — the fine 
arts, commonly so called, and art applied to decoration and 
industry. 

The number of pictures, drawings, and pieces of sculpture 
exhibited is not very large, on account of the limited space 
allotted to each country in the Gallery of Honor of the Woman's 
Building. 

We will here give the names of all the artists exhibiting. 
These are as follows: Mesdames Madeleine Lemaire, Louise Abbema, 
Demont Breton, Delphine de Cool, Muraton, la Villette, Marie 
Bashkirtseff, so truly French in heart and in talent that we have 
adopted her for one of our own; Mmes. Brouardel Rougier, Buchet, 
Villebesseyx, Colin Libour, Marquise de Chaponay, Maseline, 
Turner, Boyer-Breton, Comtesse de Cosse-Brissac, Zillhardt de 
Chatillon, and others. 

In sculpture, we would mention: Mme. Leon Bertaut, two of 
whose statues, " Psyche Under the Shell of Mystery" and " A Girl 
Bathing," belong to the collection of the Luxembourg; Mme. Laure 
Coutan, whose original work, " The Spring," has been purchased 
"by the government; Mme. Anne Manuela, Mme. Clovis Hugues, 
Mme. Sarah Bernhardt, Mme. Lancelot, and others. 

To the above should be added the charcoal sketches of Mme. 
Mourier, the portrait of Mme. de la Calle, and the engravings of 
Mile. Malsis. 

In enamels, miniatures, and illuminations we may mention: 
Mme. Marie de Nugent, Camille Isbert, de Sainte, Anne, Herve, 
Gamier, Louvet, Lagoderie, de Cool, Countess du Chaflault, Ernest 
Moye, Soudan, Montcharmont, etc. 

In workmanship shown in the decoration of fans: Mme. 




tifiW-W- j -■> £b t af&J.c£&^ 



STEPHANUS VASE. YELLOW IVORY BACKGROUND, POLYCHROME PAINTING AND 

Gold Decorations. Mme. Apoil. France. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 215 

Abbema, Mme. Chennevieres, Bida and Dumas of the house of 
Ahrweiler, Baroness de Gartempe, Marquise de Grollier, M. Duvel- 
leroy, etc. 

It remains for us to notice the panels intended for the vestibule 
of one of the grand entrances, the decoration of which was sug- 
gested to the French section. 

The plan of this was at first received with enthusiasm, especially 
by Mesdames Van Sarys and Louise Abbema. These ladies were 
afterward obliged to relinquish this project, but they have desired 
at least to send to Chicago their designs, which will give a sufficient 
idea of what the intended panels would have been had their execu- 
tion been possible. 

A list of artists who have exhibited in the Paris Salon appears 
in one of the charts of the general statistics. 

Music is represented by a number of compositions of Vicount- 
ess de Grandval, Cecile Chaminade, Augusta Holmes, Marchesi, 
marchioness of Castrone Rajota, Marie Jaell, Henriette Fuchs, 
Hortense Parent, Anna Fabre, Jumel, etc. 

Moreover, the various schools of music, the National Conserva- 
tory and its branches, together with various national, provincial, and 
private schools, have kindly forwarded reports touching their 
organization and course of instruction included in the second album, 
" Conditions Affecting Women's Work and Professional Instruc- 
tion." 

LITERATURE. 

As stated above, a certain number of literary works written by 
women has been collected by the committee. These works, about 
eight hundred in all, form the contribution of women authors to 
the library of the Woman's Building. 

In the Gallery of Honor, in the retrospective exhibit, may be 
seen the antique lace of Mme. Franck, embroidery of the sixteenth 
century of Mme. John Saulnier, that also of Mmes. Poirier and 
Remon, the ivory statuette of Venus lent by Mme. Charles Read, 
and the valuable collection of forty antique fans of M. Buissot. 

In conclusion the committee had wished to add to its exhibit a 
number of portraits of celebrated women. These, however, for the 
most part, belonged to public galleries or were the property of 
private individuals. In either case they were unavailable, in view 
of so long a transportation; and for this reason the committee has 
been obliged to content itself with sending photographs, having 
given preference to personages illustrious in art and letters. The 
statue of Joan of Arc is the fairest of these reproductions. 




SCREEN. Embroidered by Countess Greffuhle, nee de La Rochefoucauld. France. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



217 



The committee has also been fortunate enough to obtain per- 
mission from Madame Carnot to include her portrait in the 
exhibit. 

And now we may ask whether we have reason to be satisfied 
with our exhibit, which represents more than eight hundred 




OIL PAINTING -"ON THE CLIFF. 



Louise Abbema. France. 



exhibitors. The answer is not for us to give, but shall be left 
to the great number of visitors who will examine it in detail. 
We may, at least, do ourselves the justice to say that we have 
spared no pains to render our exhibit worthy of France and of 
the country which to-day grants us its hospitality, and in which 
the cause of woman gains daily in recognized importance. 

Madame Pegard. 




NOVI VASE— Applied Ornaments, Flowers and Birds and Polychrome Enamel. 

E. Richard. France. 



COTTAGE INDUSTRIES IN SCOTLAND AND 
IRELAND. 

THE exhibits of women's work from Scotland and Ireland 
have been collected respectively by the committees of the 
Scottish and Irish Home Industries associations, societies 
which have both been formed within the past two years with the 
object of promoting and developing home industries among the 




CORPORAL VEIL, FLAT NEEDLE-POINT LACE. 
Presentation Convent Industry, Youghal, County Cork. Ireland. 

people, especially in outlying country districts, where the crofters 
and peasants find so much difficulty in earning their livelihood. 

The homespuns made in the highlands and islands of Scotland 
have long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation, and specimens of 
these, along with the well-known hand-knitted stockings and gloves, 
are here on exhibition. A native of Harris has also brought over 

(219) 




SILK EMBROIDERED VESTMENT, MADE FOR HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP 
OF IRELAND. Royal School of Art Embroidery. Dublin. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



221 



her spinning-wheel, and shows how the soft pure wool from the 
highland sheep is prepared for the weaver. The far-famed fine 
Shetland knitted shawls are also represented, not only by specimens 
from which orders can be taken, but they can be seen in the course 
of production by 
a Shetland lassie 
who will explain 
the process to 
onlookers. 

But Scotland 
sends not only 
speci mens of 
these homely 
arts (which,how- 
ever, it must be 
remembered, are 
the most perma- 
nent as supply- 
ing the needs 
of the many), 
but exhibits also 
dainty embroid- 
eries from the 
needles of her 
daughters in 
times past and 
present, for of 
late years sev- 
eral centers for 
embroider y- 
making have 
sprung up un- 
der the en- 
couragement of 
wise and benefi- 
cent ladies. 

The Irish case of women's work will be regarded with special 
interest as showing the perfection to which even such fine work 
as is needed for ecclesiastical vestments and lace-making can be 
brought under wise supervision and training. 

A great deal of the interest in America, as at home, seems to 
center round the lace-workers, and truly the history of the origin 




222 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

of Irish lace-making, as well as its results, is well worthy of the 
attention of those interested in the revival of home industries. 
Most of the lace-making centers were started during the terrible 
famine times of 1 847 by charitable ladies intent on finding some 
opening for work for the starving poor. Such was the origin of 
what became the wide-spread crochet industry in the South of Ire- 
land, and round about Clones in the North, arising from the initia- 
tive of the good Ursuline Sisters at Blackrock in the one case, and 
in the other of Mrs. Hand, the rector's wife, at Clones. Mrs. Mary 
Ann Smith of the Presentation Convent at Youghal found an old 
piece of lace and mastered its art herself, and then set to work to 
teach it to the poor girls around, who were striving to earn a sub- 
sistence on a sort of muslin embroidery long out of date, and at 
which a moderately good worker could earn a penny per ten hours. 
From this effort has sprung the far-famed beautiful Irish point lace. 

Many other instances might be quoted of lace industries arising 
out of famine times, but there are two laces which have different 
histories, the Carrickmacross and the Limerick. In the year 1820 
Mrs. Grey Porter, the wife of the rector of Dunnamoyne, taught 
her servant to make lace from a specimen she had brought from 
Italy. The circumstance suggested the idea of teaching lace-mak- 
ing to the poor, to a Miss Reid of Radance, near Carrickmacross. 
Classes were started, and you can now find scores of cottage-workers 
in that district depending mainly on this industry for their living. 
It is scarcely possible to conceive how these beautiful laces come 
so clean and dainty for bridal array from such poor homes. 

The Limerick lace is the one Irish lace which owes its birth to 
a spirit of commercial venture. Mr. Charles Walker brought over 
twenty-four teachers to Limerick, about 1 829, to teach lace-making, 
and it became a flourishing business, employing some fifteen 
hundred hands. A short time ago I saw one of the original 
workers at the lace, an old lady of over eighty, who is proud to tell 
of how she is the one survivor of the four women who made Her 
Majesty's wedding-veil. Limerick lace is the least expensive of 
Irish laces, and when worked out well in a good design is very 
pretty, light, and effective. But it fell off in quality of late years, 
until Mrs. R. Vere O'Brien set to work to revive it by means of 
able supervision and good designs. We greatly hope that this lace 
will again come into popular favor, and that our friends in America 
will find it suitable for the Easter offerings they give their clergy, 
as well as in the embroidered vestments, of which we make so 
brave a show at Chicago. 











- 



._, J 



Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE GENIUS OF NAVIGATION.— One of the Groups of Statuary Flanking the 
Main Arch of the Peristyle. Bela L. Pratt of New York. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



225 



I have quoted these instances of the rise of the lace manufact- 
ures, not so much because we wish to lay stress on the lace, but 
because they afford proof of what great benefits may accrue to a 




large number of workers from the humble beginning of one person 
who desires to help those around in the best way possible, namely, 
by teaching them to help themselves. The same lesson might be 
drawn from the experience of a brave and devoted lady, Miss 



15 




SILK AND GOLD EMBROIDERED VESTMENT, MADE FOR HIS EMINENCE 

CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

Convent of Poor Clare's Industry, Kenmore, County Kerry. Ireland. 



in the woman's building. 227 

Sophy Sturge, who settled down at Letterfrack, in the wild west of 
Culare, single-handed and amidst many difficulties, to start a basket 
industry. She began with one pupil, but now has a most flourish- 
ing and attractive little industry. Or, take the results which have 
come to the village of Marlfield, near Clonmel, through the wise 
and devoted efforts of Mrs. Bagwell, who has the girls in the 
neighborhood taught every kind of plain needlework, and also 
embroidery, for which she obtains orders. She makes a condition 
of her employment of the workers that they should put a certain 
portion of their earnings in the savings-bank so that they may 
have a nice little sum put by for their start in life. A very brief 
visit to the homes of Marlfield, and to other districts where like 
training has been given, would suffice to prove what has been 
wrought by such efforts. 

These few scattered notes concerning the home industries of 
Scotland and Ireland will give an idea of the condition of things 
with which we are striving to deal, and the class of workers whose 
goods we are bringing before the public. In the meantime we are 
obliged to provide some outlet into the market for work for which 
we have not yet found regular trade connections; and this is why 
we have depots in London (at 20 Motcomb Street, S. W.) and in 
Dublin (at 14 Suffolk Street), for our Irish work, and at 14 Lower 
Grosvenor Place, London, for our Scotch work, and why we have 
sales from time to time. By these means we are making the public 
acquainted with the excellence of our wares, and we are proud to 
think that customers who come to us from a charitable desire to 
help the Scottish and Irish poor, come back to us because they find 
our work of so good a quality and so moderate in price. A very 
considerable sum yearly is by these means sent to the homes of the 
workers, as much as $25,000 having been forwarded last year to the 
Irish peasants alone. It is difficult to realize, but delightful to 
contemplate, what comfort and relief this has meant to many, 
many a home, and we fondly hope that we shall not appeal in vain 
to our American sisters to take an interest in this undertaking, and 
to do what in them lies to gain support for it and to help us carry 
it on and develop it. 

Ishbel Aberdeen. 




EMBROIDERED PORTIERE. J. M. DIXON. ENGLAND. 



PHILANTHROPIC WORK OF BRITISH WOMEN. 

I VENTURE to hope that the report and exhibit illustrating the 
philanthropic work of British women, which I have had the 
honor of presenting to the World's Columbian Exposition, will 
prove of special interest to those for whom they were prepared. 
Though it has not been possible to collect materials for a complete 
and exhaustive record of what British women are doing for the 
welfare of their fellow beings, I have been enabled by the kind 
cooperation of a very large number of correspondents and writers 
to bring together sufficient information to form a report upon the 
philanthropic work promoted or originated by British women, 
which I trust will not only be found instructive and useful, but of 
permanent value. 

The report comprises three distinct features. Of these the first 
is a volume of Congress papers entitled " Woman's Mission," 
printed and published for general circulation by Messrs. Sampson 
Low, Marston & Co. of London, and Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons 
of New York. The second is a series of type-written reports, 
bound up in six folio volumes, which are lodged for reference and 
perusal in the space allotted to me in the Woman's Building. 
These type-written volumes may be said to form the basis of the 
printed volume, "Woman's Mission," as they contain the whole 
body of information in the form in which it was received from 
authoritative sources. This information is embodied in the printed 
volume of Congress papers, which have been written by the follow- 
ing ladies, whose ability and experience have enabled them not 
only to deal with the many important questions under notice, but 
to supplement the material contained in the type-written reports by 
additional information derived from personal knowledge: 

H. R. H. Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, Mrs. Alex- 
ander, Miss Anne Beale, Miss Violet Brooke-Hunt, Baroness Bur- 
dett-Coutts, Miss Fanny L. Calder, Mrs. Boyd Carpenter, Countess 
Compton, Mrs. Charles Garnett, Mrs. Gilbert (Rosa Mulholland), 
Mrs. Cashel Hoey, Miss Louisa M. Hubbard, Miss Emily Janes, 
Hon. Mrs. Muir Mackenzie, Lady Victoria Lambton, Miss E. S. 

(229) 



230 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



Lidgett, Mrs. Malleson, Miss Marsh, Mrs. Molesworth, Miss Florence 
Nightingale, Miss Petrie, B. A., Mrs. G. A. Sala, the authoress of 
"The Schonberg-Cotta Family;" Miss E. Sellers, Hon. Maude 




FIVE PAIRS OF FINGER PLATES. Violet M. Parker. England. 

Stanley, Miss Mary Steer, Miss Hesba Stretton, Mrs. Sumner, Miss 

Louisa Twining, Miss Agnes E. Weston, Hon. Mrs. Stuart Wortley. 

The third feature of my exhibit is the collection shown in the 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 231 

Woman's Building of specimens of work done in various philan- 
thropic institutions, together with a number of models, sketches, 
photographs, maps, and some seventy printed volumes of reports, 
etc. All the examples of work exhibited — though in some instances 
of comparatively small value — possess a history. Taken in associa- 
tion with the written report presented to the exhibition, they tell 
many a story of how single individuals setting to work with heart 
and mind, and pursuing the effort with courage and tact, can con- 
quer the obstacles presented by an isolated and resourceless district, 
hy an ignorant and untrained population, by an apathy and idleness 
arising mainly from the want of hopeful inspiration and skilled 
guidance. They are so many proofs, these little pieces of handi- 
work, of the industry and cleverness which lie buried in the poor- 
est classes, and the effective materialization of which is one of the 
best and most reproductive objects to which philanthropic effort 
can be applied — for the work required in the production does not 
end with the object produced, and the reward is not to be measured 
by the little wage given in return, in itself often an appreciable 
help to the scanty resources of a struggling family. It carries on 
into the future; it implies that the hand which hitherto was 
unskilled has been trained to execute, and the eye to select and 
discriminate. The mind as well as the body has learned the habit 
of work, and the whole morale of the individual is braced and 
trained. 

Upon the methods adopted for collecting the information con- 
tained in the printed and type-written volumes, it is not necessary 
for me to dwell here. Those who are interested in the subject will 
find the information given in detail in my preface to " Woman's 
Mission," where I have also explained why the Columbian Exposi- 
tion will, in my opinion, give to 1893 a significant and unique place 
in the history of the material and social progress of the world. 
Hitherto international exhibitions have been chiefly concerned 
with the material progress of civilization. At Chicago the moral 
and social progress of the world receives a prominent and peculiar 
consideration. Moreover, under this second head, the department 
of woman's work takes its place for the first time, and both on that 
account and by reason of the special regard given to philanthropy 
much of the deeper and more lasting interest excited by this great 
Exhibition will, I think, gather round the section for which this 
report has been prepared. It is fitting that the close of the nine- 
teenth century should focus and illustrate in a definite form the 
share which women have taken in its development, of which, in 




TERRA COTTA STATUETTE — "BOY AND DOG." R. A. Fraser Tytler. England. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



233 



my humble judgment, the truest and noblest, because the most 
natural, part is to be found in philanthropic work. 

In conclusion, I venture to hope that the information upon the 
philanthropic work of British women which I have been able to 
present to the Chicago Exposition will not be unwelcome in the 
country for which it was collected. My personal feeling and 
knowledge, to quote once more from my preface to " Woman's 
Mission," have led me to believe that the past and present work of 
English women would have for the American people an attraction 
exceeding any felt by other nations, however interested these may 
be in a common charity. In an unusual degree the blood of many 
races runs in our veins; but we are bound together in the one 



r |ibit* 




CARVED WOOD PANEL FROM RECORD ROOM. K. E. P. Mosher. United States. 

historic record of the English-speaking peoples. One language 
unites us; one Bible, one literature. The poetry and prose of past 
centuries, and the first achievements of Englishmen in the dim 
twilight of scientific discovery, are a common heritage of both 
nations. In the past fifty years the genius of both, sometimes 
divided, sometimes intermingled, nas kept the light burning. To 
the sacred lamp of literature American authors have added a pecul- 
iar radiance of their own, and the field of discovery and invention 
has been illuminated by the splendid achievements of American 
research. And as in these two great branches of progress we are 
at once co-inheritors and fellow-workers, so the philanthropic work 
of English women, commingled by practice and example with the 
work of American women, must, I feel, have an absorbing interest 
for those who, like ourselves, have drawn their national being from 
the Anglo-Saxon race. 

The Baroness Burdett-Coutts. 




DIANA — STATUE. Miss Grant. England. 



GREAT BRITAIN — ART. 

GREAT Britain is justly proud of her women artists, some of 
whom are represented in the Woman's Building, but to 
judge of all that they are exhibiting at Chicago, the visitor 
must look in at the Art Palace and see some of the strong pictures 
exhibited there. It is nothing new to find English women in the 
front ranks of British art. They have always held a distinguished 
position, and in any book which pretends to give the history of 
women's achievements in art a very large proportion of the paint- 
ers will be found to have been English, either by birth or by 
adoption. It is interesting to remember that a woman painter was 
one of the original members of the Royal Academy, whose charter 
was signed by King George III., at the instance of the American 
painter Benjamin West, who, after the death of Sir Joshua (first 
president of the Academy), held the position of president during 
the remainder of his life. In the art exhibitions of London, women 
to-day hold a prominent position. Mrs. Alma Tadema is a painter 
with a great deal of originality and of power. Her husband has 
been heard to say that his highest ambition is to have it written 
on his tombstone, " Here lies the husband of Mrs. Alma Tadema." 
Mrs. Stillman is one of our popular painters. Her pictures possess 
a certain ideal quality which is not always to be found combined 
with the admirable technique which we find in her work. Miss 
Lena Stillman, one of our younger artists, is full of promise. 
There is a certain gravity and dignity about her compositions 
which win for tnem immediate recognition. Kate Greenaway's 
name is a household word. Her delightful illustrations are known 
in every home ivhere children and good taste are to be found. 
She has done more, perhaps, to bring about an improvement in 
the dress of our little men and little maids than any other indi- 
vidual. One meets whole groups of Kate Greenaway children 
in Hyde Park on a Sunday morning. Mrs. George Watts has 
achieved a reputation by her admirable portraits. 

In the use of water-colors, women share the high position that 
our English artists hold m that exquisite branch of art, for there 

(235) 




■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ - - .■■... 



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IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 237 

can be no denying that in aquarelles no school has ever approached 
the English. The opportunities for studying art in our country 
are very great, for women as well as for men. The careless 
observer, judging only from the large annual exhibitions, in which 
it may be held that the standard is not kept sufficiently high, may 
be inclined to underrate contemporary British art, but the careful 
student will find that London is in fact, as well as in name, one of 
the great art centers of the world. While George Watts, Walter 
Crane, and Burne-Jones live, we can claim that in the field of 
portraiture, illustration, and ideal work three of the greatest con- 
temporary artists are English born and bred. The Montalba sis- 
ters, Mrs. Adrian Stokes, Blanche Jenkins, Henrietta Rae, Miss 
Osborne, and Miss Stewart Wood are well represented at Chicago. 
Mrs. Swynnerton's " Mater Triumphalis " at the Art Palace wins 
almost as much commendation as Lady Butler's famous picture, 
" The Roll Call." When this was exhibited for the first time at the 
Royal Academy, a policeman was in attendance to keep the crowd 
in order that always gathered about it. The picture was bought 
by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, who has kindly consented to send 
it to Chicago. 

Mrs. Adrian Stokes exhibits two of her important pictures, an 
"Annunciation," very original in composition, and a pathetic little 
scene which she calls " Go, thou must play alone, my boy." A 
little lad sits weeping bitterly beside his playmate, who lies at rest 
white and still as the flowers on her breast. The treatment of 
this familiar subject is very tender, the dead child is exquisitely 
painted, and the grief of the little brother is quiet, reserved, and 
infinitely human. The women sculptors who exhibit are Miss B. 
A. M. Brown, Miss Henrietta Montalba, Miss Ada M. Chignell, and 
Miss E. M. Moore. Among the etchings and engravings excellent 
examples of the work of Mrs. Dale, Miss Ethel Martyn, and Miss 
Elizabeth Piper may be found. When the exceedingly high 
standard of the work which Great Britain has sent to Chicago 
is taken into account, it is a significant and encouraging fact that 
forty-five women are represented among the British artists 
exhibiting in the Art Palace. 

The east vestibule of the Woman's Building is decorated by two 
large mural paintings. The one by Mrs. Swynnerton represents 
three different phases of nursing, the care of the young, the 
sick, and the aged. The decoration is in the form of a 
triptych. The central panel represents the Crimean Hospital 
at Scutari, with the sick and wounded soldiers lying on 




MARQUETRY SCREEN. Lent by The Working Ladies' Guild. England. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 239 

their pallet beds, their faees turned toward the single gracious 
figure of Florence Nightingale standing in their midst, a figure full 
of dignity and of pathos. It was in this hospital that the dying boy 
kissed the shadow of Florence Nightingale as it fell upon the wall 
by his bed. In one of the smaller panels we have a handsome, 
robust young mother with a lusty child upon her knee, Avhile the 
remaining one shows us the figure of an aged woman; beside her 
sits her young granddaughter. One feels here that the situation 
is reversed; the young girl is repaying something of the care and 
love which in her infancy were lavished upon her. There is a 
wealth of sentiment and tenderness in this three-fold presentation 
of woman's great duty and prerogative, the care of the weak and 
helpless. Facing Mrs. Swynnerton's decoration are three corre- 
sponding panels by Mrs. Anna Lee Merritt, who, though by birth an 
American, has for so long lived and worked in England that we 
may fairly claim, her for one of our painters. The central panel is 
a spirited scene, representing woman the mistress of the needle. 
A group of seated figures about an embroidery frame is particularly 
worthy of notice. In the right-hand panel a group of fair girl 
graduates receive their diplomas from the hand of a college digni- 
tary. It is interesting to learn that the process used by Mrs. 
Merritt in this decoration is a novel one which has only lately been 
known in England. The whole work was executed between the 
ist of February and the 8th of April, which gives us an idea of the 
artist's industry. In justice to Mrs. Swynnerton and Mrs. Merritt, 
it should be said that their work is seen at something of a disad- 
vantage owing to the narrowness of the vestibule in which it is 
placed. It would be seen at a much better advantage at a far 
greater distance than is here possible. Miss Clara Montalba 
exhibits a charming little picture of the palace in Venice where 
Robert Browning lived, and from whence his body was carried in 
that wonderful funeral pageant when the English poet, lying in 
his flower-crowned barge, was carried down the Lido, followed by 
all the dignitaries and notables of Venice. Hilda Montalba's 
" Market Woman of Dordrecht " is clever and well drawn, and 
deserves the commendation which it received when it was exhib- 
ited last year in the Royal Academy. Miss Alice Grant's " Por- 
trait of a Baby " shows us a jolly little wight, full of fun and good 
humor. Mrs. Perugini's " Portrait of a Child " is a characteristic 
piece of work. The " Sussex Cottage " by Mrs. Allingham and 
the charming landscape by Miss Stewart Wood have been widely 
admired. Henrietta Rae's large picture of " Eurydice Sinking 



240 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

Back into Hades " is a very powerful composition. The artist has 
chosen the moment when the beloved shade vanishes from the eyes 
of the agonized Orpheus and sinks sadly and mutely back to the 
nether world from which his insistent adjurations have summoned 
her. 

In sculpture women are achieving as great a success in England 
as they are in France and in the United States. One of the most 
beautiful pieces of sculpture exhibited last year in London was the 




CUSHION. Designed by H. R. H. the Princess Louise. England. 

bas-relief of " Silene," shown at the Royal Academy by one of our 
leading women sculptors. Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise 
has won distinction both in painting and in sculpture. Her por- 
trait of Paderewski and the bust of her royal mother, exhibited 
last year, merited the high praise they received. 

In needlework and embroidery our women have never been 
surpassed, and it is a cause of great satisfaction to us to learn that 
the Kensington school, which has done so much to improve the art 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 211 

of the needle in Great Britain, has extended its potent influence 
throughout the United States, and that the leading schools of 
needlework in this country acknowledge that they owe their 
very existence to the Kensington school. 

In music we are not behind. Virginia Gabriel's songs have had 
a wide and well-deserved popularity, shared by the compositions of 
Elizabeth Philp. Among our younger composers, two of the most 
eminent, Rosalind Ellicott and Ethel Smythe, have contributed 
manuscript copies of some of their best-known works. 

In commerce woman is taking every day a more prominent 
place. In the old days, the only refuge for a reduced gentlewoman 
was the profession of a governess or companion, but to-day we 
find many women of good family who find in trade an excellent 
and dignified means of self-support. Several ladies of rank, as is 
very well known, have opened millinery and dressmaking estab- 
lishments. 

In philanthropic work Englishwomen have long been prominent, 
while in literature they have maintained the high position won for 
them by Maria Edgeworth^ George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Brown- 
ing, and the Bronte sisters. Among our most popular novelists to- 
day are Miss Braddon, Ouida, Rhoda Broughton, Mrs. Lynn Linton, 
Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, and the late Miss Edwards, 
whose fame as an archaeologist has almost eclipsed her work in 
literature. Frances Power Cobb is a name worthy to close this very 
imperfect survey of the women who to-day are among the leading 
spirits in the fields of intellectual labor. The work of women may 
be likened to the labor of the coral insects who for centuries toil 
unseen and unnoticed beneath the ocean of oblivion. At last a 
day comes when the winds and the waves bring their tribute of soil, 
the passing birds drop the seeds of tree and flower, and of a sudden 
a fair island rises from the sea, with fruit and foliage and pleasant 
streams. The navigator discovers the new land and writes it down 
on his chart, and the patient toil of the untold myriads of insects is 
at last rewarded. 

E. Crawford. 

Mrs. Crawford, the writer of this paper, exhibits one of the most striking pict- 
ures in the Hall of Honor, a large water -color painting of a Roman scene; a nun 
passing up a marble stairway, and looking back at a cheerful young peasant woman 
leading a rosy child and carrying a funeral wreath. The colors used in this work 
are of a new manufacture, and attention is called to the reds, which have proved 
very satisfactory. — Ed. 
16 



BRITISH NURSES' EXHIBIT. 

THERE is no more important and, I believe, no more interest- 
ing exhibit in the Woman's Building than that made by the 
British Royal Commission on professional nursing. The 
pleasant room leading from the gallery in which the exhibit is 
installed is graced by a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, which 
bears her signature. A portrait of H. R. H. Princess Christian of 
Schleswig-Holstein, and one of the Princess Helena, find a place 
near by. The Queen is a patron of the Jubilee Institute for 
Nurses, while the Princess Helena is president of the Royal British 
Nurses' Association. The interest taken by these august per- 
sonages is a very real one, and is shared by many of our most- 
distinguished women. 

Though we must consider that Sarah Gamp was, perhaps, an 
exceptionally ignorant type of nurse, it must be admitted that in 
drawing her character Dickens can not be accused of having made 
a caricature. How different a class of woman is now intrusted 
with the sacred task of nursing the sick, one has but to examine 
the exhibit to realize. The neat, suitable uniforms of the British 
nurses, the appliances they use, the various inventions they have 
made for the sick-room, can not fail to prove to the most careless 
observer that the profession to which these things appertain is 
both honorable and scientific. Attention is called to the medical 
and surgical dressings, the bandages and belts arranged by Mrs. 
Walter Lakin, the hygienic clothing for nurses made by Miss 
Franks, the splints padded by nurses, the model of a hygienic room 
for the instruction of nurses designed by Mrs. Lionel Pridgin 
Teale, the nurse's toilet basket and the glass appliances for sterilized 
surgical dressings designed by Mrs. Bedford-Fenwick. The sur- 
gical models, designed and made by sister Marion Turnball of the 
London Homeopathic Hospital deserve notice, as do Miss Simp- 
son's basket, used by the " Princess Christian's Nurses," and the 
bag used by the " Queen's Nurses." 

These exhibits are not only interesting in themselves, but are 
instructive evidences of the immense strides made in nursing 

(243) 




, .. ■. . .. . • ■ ■ ■ • ■ ■- 

: 




immgmki^mi. :■ 




IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



245 



during this century. Twenty years ago, nursing as a profession for 
woman was practically unrecognized. Very few, except those who 
were unable to obtain any other means of livelihood, could be 
induced to undertake it. So pressing had the need become that a 
suggestion was made by some eminent authorities to meet it by 
training the numerous able-bodied women in work-houses as nurses 
for the sick. This plan, though never carried into effect, was use- 
ful in opening up the way for other and more practical schemes, 
and to-day we see women of 
all classes anxious to enroll 
themselves in the band of 
trained workers. Many of 
course are possessed of very 
indifferent qualifications. 
At present there is no uni- 
formity of training in Great 
Britain, more especially 
with regard to the length 
of time which must elapse 
before a nurse can be certi- 
fied as fully trained. There 
is nothing to hinder any 
woman from putting on a 
uniform after a few months' 
sojourn in a hospital or 
infirmary, and calling her- 
self a trained nurse. To 
protect the public against untrustworthy persons of this type, an 
association was formed about five years ago, with Her Royal High- 
ness Princess Christian at its head, called the Royal British Nurses' 
Association, which undertakes to register all nurses who have 
undergone three years' instruction in the practice and theory of 
nursing in a recognized institution. Thus, at a moment's glance, 
any one can satisfy themselves as to the qualifications of the nurse 
they wish to employ. The registration board not only inquires into 
the educational process through which a nurse has passed, but is the 
result of a most careful and painstaking scrutiny into her character 
and antecedents as well. There is no doubt that under the segis of 
a rOyal charter it will exercise a powerful influence of an edu- 
cational nature on prof essional and public opinion, and thus prepare 
the way for those further advances in the organization and training 
of nurses which it is the main object of the association to promote. 

Mrs. Bedford-Fenwick. 




EMBROIDERED VELLUM FRAME. 
Boston Society of Decorative Art. 




OIL PAINTING-" CHRIST AND THE SINNER." COUNTESS KALKREUTH. GERMANY. 



GERMANY. 

IN anticipation of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chi- 
cago, in 1893 — the first international exhibition which has 
presented a comprehensive review of all that woman has done 
in the domains of art, science, industry, education, charity, and phil- 
anthropy — the Imperial Commissioner called together, in the spring 
of 1 892, a number of leading German women. From these a central 
committee was formed, under the patronage of Her Imperial High- 
ness the Princess Frederick Charles. Headquarters were estab- 
lished in Berlin, and a large number of sub-committees were 
appointed in different parts of the German Empire. The officers of 
this committee are: Mrs. Schepeler-Lette, president; Miss Lange, 
vice-president; Mrs. Kaselowsky, secretary; Mrs. Dr. Tiburtius, 
assistant secretary; and Mrs. Schrader, treasurer. The follow- 
ing ladies accepted the position of honorary president: Count- 
ess von Pueckler, the wife of State Minister Delbrueck, and the 
wife of State Minister von Schelling. The central committee con- 
sists of the presidents of all the German sub-committees. Among 
its members are: Miss von Cotta, Mrs. Jessen, Mrs. Noeldechen, 
Miss von Hobe, Miss Fuhrmann, Miss von Keudell, Mrs. Heyl, Mrs. 
Morgenstern, and Mrs. Vely, from Berlin; Mrs. Simson and Mrs. Dr. 
Asch of Breslau, Mrs. Weber of Tuebingen, and Mrs. Bonhoefer 
of Stuttgart. 

Separate committees, the members of which are too numerous 
to mention, have labored with untiring energy. Thanks to their 
efforts Germany has been able to make an exceptionally complete 
exhibit in the Woman's Building. There are there represented 
products and models relating to commerce, manufactures, cook- 
ing schools, house-keeping schools (schools in domestic economy), 
Froebel's kindergartens and seminaries, schools for little child- 
ren, high schools and scientific institutes, home missions, hos- 
pital service, hygiene, eating-houses for the poor, printing, photog- 
raphy, art, horticulture, etc. 

A valuable addition, which should notably facilitate the study 
of this contribution to the Exposition, consists of the statistical 

(247) 




PORTRAIT. Vilma Parlarghy. Germany. 



in the woman's building. 249 

reports and the numerous accounts, programmes, and prospectuses 
which illustrate woman's work in commerce, manufacture, art, 
printing, photography, and horticulture, as well as in many 
"branches of philanthropy and education. Much also may be 
learned of the kindergarten system, schools of domestic economy, 
the hospitals and charitable institutions. 

Considering the amount of space allotted to them the women 
painters make a very good showing. The photographs of eminent 
dramatic artists and singers form an interesting feature of the 
exhibit. Authors are represented by some four hundred volumes, 
collected by Mrs. C. Vely and Miss Jennie Hirsch. At the close of 
the Exhibition these books will be given to the Women's Memorial 
Library. 

The statistical tables prepared by Mrs. Dr. Gnauck-Kuehne give 
a comprehensive account of the social status and occupations of 
the German working-women, and are especially interesting. 

The exhibit of the German women is most satisfactory, not 
only from its wide range and quantity, but also from its excellent 
quality. The diligence with which the best has been brought 
together also deserves high appreciation. The art exhibit is 
particularly interesting; it includes two works by Her Royal High- 
ness the Princess Frederick Carl, which add an especial charm. 
We find a wide range of subject and treatment; the Countess 
Kathrenth is represented by a painting of " Christ and the Sinner," 
while Mrs. Biber-Boehm exhibits her picture of " Ahasverus." 

Among the portraits we have Vilma Parlarghy's well-known 
and admirable picture of herself in a charming costume of white 
satin. Near by hangs a portrait of the famous poet and painter 
Marie von Olfers, by Fraulein Strempel. Dora Flitz's picture, a 
mother and child, proves the artist to belong to the impressionist 
school. Fraulein Liibbes' picture, " Lost in Thought," is particu- 
larly strong in color. 

Among the landscapes M. von Keudell's delicately executed 
*" Bluemli's Alp " deserves attention, and Mrs. Begas Parmentier's 
study of Venice is a charming composition. Frau Von Preuschen's 
*" Elaine " represents the lily maid of Astolat lying in her flower- 
strewn barge. We must also commend Clara Lobedan's " Italian 
Grapes," and the works of Hildegard Lehnert, Frau Kallmorgen, 
and Fraulein Ley. 

Particularly, however, the attention of admirers of flowers 
is called to Katharine Klein's " Roses," the perfume of which one 
seems to inhale. In this connection may be mentioned a glass case 




EMBROIDERY ON WHITE SATIN. GERMANY. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 251 

of fans, the majority of which have been already awarded prizes in 
Karlsruhe. We will only mention among them the works of the 
following ladies: Erler, Laudien, Wedekind, Ankermann, and 
Wittmann, and regret that space does not allow a more detailed 
description. A large chest of drawers placed in the immediate 
vicinity of the fans contains many exquisite embroideries of dif- 
ferent styles, nearly all of them works of the highest order. Among 
them is one of Avhite satin, with many-colored embroidery, in the 
style of the Renaissance, by Miss Barbara Wolf; also a large bed- 
cover executed with ebony-colored cordonet silk in open embroid- 
ery; some artistic hand-work from the atelier of the Lette Club; 
an ornamental pillow by Mrs. von Wedel, executed in the most 
exquisite manner, with gold silk and applique on red satin, as 
well as a rich collection of covers and pillows of various styles, 
among which the fine work of Mrs. Gerson deserves mention. A 
wall-hanging about 19^ feet square, executed in gobelin embroid- 
ery, is unique and beautiful. The design was taken from an old 
motif of the fifteenth centur^ This is also by Miss Wolf. 

Germany has always been distinguished by the excellence 
of her schools, and they are worthily represented by the exhibits of 
the Sophien Institute of Weimar, the public schools of Breslau and 
Munich, the working-women's school of Reutlingen, the high 
school of Rheydt, the Women's Educational Club of Breslau, and 
the Lette Club of Berlin. All these institutions offer numerous 
illustrations of their achievements in the field of woman's hand- 
work. The case of the latter illustrates also the great extent of the 
field covered by its institutes, which include the commercial and 
photographic schools that provide secure positions in life for a 
large number of young girls. In this connection a small exhibit of 
lace from the school at Schmiedeberg may be mentioned, as it 
illustrates the many processes of lace-making. In this school was 
manufactured the point lace of the silver wedding-dress of Her 
Majesty the Empress Friedrich, presented by the ladies of Silesia. 
This lace may be seen in the exhibit. 

The " People's Kitchen " and the "Household Schools" of Mrs. 
Morgenstern are shown in three small models, while certain statis- 
tical tables compiled by the same lady are exceedingly valuable. 
A child's cooking-stove, with stove furniture, a charming model of 
the kindergarten in Breslau, the school for little children in Sieg- 
ersdorf, all demonstrate what has been done in this field. 

Among works of charity we find: Pictures of hospitals, exhib- 
ited by the Woman's Club of Baden, the patroness of which is the 











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IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



253 



grand duchess; models of the dresses of the female nurses, besides 
a number of statistical tables from Berlin, and the charitable gifts 
of the mission club " Edelweiss." To our great regret the 
exhibit of the " Pestalozzi Froebel Institute " has been placed in the 
Liberal Arts Building, separated from our main exhibit, the space 
for which was too limited; it is executed in a most artistic manner, 




PART OF LACE DRESS. Ex-Empress Frederick. Germany. 

and close inspection indicates the devoted fulfillment of the edu- 
cational mission of the institute. 

Last, not least, must be mentioned the books which have been 
presented to the ladies of America, and are to be found in the 
library of the Woman's Building. The reputation of women like 
Fanny Lewald, Louise von Francois, Emily Erhart, Natalie von 
Eschstruth, Louise von Droste-Huelshoff, Hermine von Hillern, 
Tekla von Gumpert, Ottilie Wildermuth, E. Vely, and others, 
is an assurance that the women authors of Germany deserve the 
high reputation which they have won. 

Madame Kaselowsky. 






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Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 

THE GENIUS OF DISCOVERY.— One of the Groups of Statuary Flanking the 
Main Arch of the Peristyle. Bela L. Pratt of New York. 




OIL PAINTING-FLOWERS. Fraulein Ley. Germany. 







Mi 




Engraved by Rand, McNally & Co. 



SPRING -Statue. Canada. 



SPAIN. 

THE display made by the Spanish women in the Woman's 
Building of the World's Columbian Exposition, although one 
of the most important in that department, suffers very much 
on account of the lateness of the action taken in Spain to gather 
specimens of the work and labor of women. 

By an unfortunate circumstance, there had not been a Spanish 
Minister in Washington for some time until the end of 1892. 
The American Minister left his post in Madrid also at the same 
time; and besides this there was in Spain a change in the govern- 
ment. 

Her Majesty the Queen did not know the importance of the 
Exposition and the desire of the Board of Lady Managers until a 
very few weeks before the opening of the Fair, and it has been 
very difficult to gather, in such a short time, a comprehensive 
collection of what woman is doing in Spain. 

Immediately her majesty had knowledge of the desires of the 
American ladies, she surrounded herself with the ladies most 
accustomed to manage affairs of that sort, because of the part they 
take in charities, education, and in the literary and intellectual 
movement, and calling together the ladies of the different provinces, 
in a very few days they gathered what is to be seen in the pavilion 
of Spain in the Woman's Building. 

The women of Spain have always played a very important part 
in the social development of the country, and in the growth of the 
nation. The status of woman in Spain, her position and influence 
in the family and in the government, does not originate only in 
the gallantry that is always accorded to Spain by people who think 
of our country with romantic ideas, but is due to the Christian 
principle that woman is the equal of man. 

The law of the country gives equal rights to rule to women and 
to men, and Spain boasts of such queens as Isabella the Catholic, 
Maria de Molina, and the present Queen Regent, who have given her 
the greatest days of glory, and the best government under very diffi- 
cult circumstances; and of queens and mothers like the two sisters 

17 (257) 



IN THE woman's building. 259 

Blanca and Berenguela, mothers of two great kings and two saints, 
San Ferdinand of Spain and Saint Louis of France. 

The law gives to woman such a prominent place in the family 
that we have what is called los gananciales — that is to say, the gains 
in marriage; this implies that the augmentation of the fortune 
of man and wife, during their married life, has to be equally 
divided, for the law wisely thinks that the wife and mother, by 
her economy, her making the home pleasant, and her devotion to 
the education of her children, plays a part as important as the 
husband in making the fortune of the family. 

She has, after the death of her father, the patria potestad, and 
she has by right a portion equal to the one inherited by each of the 
children. 

The short space given to each nation in this book makes it 
impossible to fully portray the importance of woman in the history 
of Spain, but it is easy to say, that although her character makes 
her principally a home-abiding woman, that although she is retir- 
ing and avoids publicity, and dislikes all that is noisy and seems to 
her immodest, she has all the rights of man except the political 
rights. She has the right to take the highest honors in the 
government universities, and avails herself of it; she takes 
an important part in the productive industry of the country, both 
as merchant and worker; she does creative work in literature and 
art, directs the education of children in the elementary schools, 
and is recognized as the most active worker in charities by the 
state, which has given to a commission of ladies the direction of 
the hospitals and asylums. 

The women of Spain have always shown that they can do every- 
thing that men can do. They have fought the enemies of the coun- 
try heroically, like Maria Pita and Augustina de Aragon; they have 
stood by their husbands and sons in sieges and battles, being a 
source of strength, and never a pretext for weakness. As far back 
as the fifteenth century we find such philosophers as Teresa de 
Cartagena, and learned women as Beatriz Galindo, the friend and 
adviser of the great Queen Isabella, who was called " La Latino" from 
her achievements in classic literature. 

In the pavilion erected in the Woman's Building by the Spanish 
Commission, can be read the names of eight women who have 
been celebrated not only in Spain, but are known by every edu- 
cated person all over the world: Santa Teresa de Jesus, one of the 
classic writers of Spanish literature, whose writings on philosoph- 
ical matters have had a great influence; Oliva Sabuco de Nantes, 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 261 

whose treaty on the " New Philosophy of Man and Nature " was 
printed in 1587; Sor. Maria de Agreda, author of the celebrated 
book "La Mistica Ciudad de Dios," and who carried on correspond- 
ence with Philip IV., King of Spain, leaving letters that are a 
treasure of wisdom in political and state matters. Many names 
have had to be omitted which in justice should have been given 
with the others — if space had allowed — such as the names of the 
poetess Ines de la Cruz, born in Mexico during the Spanish rule, 
and one of the most classic writers in the Spanish language; Maria 
Zayas y Sotomayor, a novelist of the sixteenth century ; the Mar- 
chioness of Huesca, who was elected member of the Royal Acad- 
emy ; Maria Elguero, Maria Rosa Galvez, Feliciana Perez de Guz- 
man, and many others whose names can be seen in the 283 volumes 
of books written by women, collected by the commission presided 
over by Her Majesty the Queen Regent, and now to be seen in the 
library of the Woman's Building. 

It has been thought just to give in the medallions of the Spanish 
Pavilion a place to some of the prominent women that have died re- 
cently, and it is for that reason that the great Cuban poetess, Gemez 
de Avellaneda ; the novelist, Fernan Caballero, and Concepcion Are- 
nal have been given place among their sisters of past centuries. 

The life of Concepcion Arenal is an illustration of what the 
modern Spanish woman can do. She has written books on political, 
sociological, and philosophical subjects that have had a great influ- 
ence, and have been translated into several languages, and very 
fully into English. 

The State recognized her talents and achievements by appoint- 
ing her inspector-general of prisons and sending her as its official 
representative to the Penitentiary Congress at Stockholm; besides 
that, she has occupied a place among the most prominent men of 
Spain in the official commission appointed to prepare the laws of 
social reform, and to adjust the relations between capital and 
labor, and to regulate the work of women and children. 

But if Spain can present in ancient and modern times as many 
women celebrated in all branches of human knowledge as any 
other nation, the true and real character of the Spanish woman is 
to be a home-maker, a housewife, and a mother. She contributes 
greatly to the prosperity and wealth of the country by her habits 
of order and economy and by the education she gives her chil- 
dren, increasing by her savings the capital of the family, making 
true Christians by her piety, and maintaining the national senti- 
ment and character by the poetry and delicacy of her nature. 




PRIEST'S VESTMENT. Exhibited by Angela Baffico. Italy. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 263 

The greatest ladies of the land take the lead in all the charities, 
following - the example of the royal family. The Queen and the 
Infantas take the chair at weekly meetings of the boards of hos- 
pitals, asylums, and colleges, and watch in person the work of these 
institutions, visiting the poor, and attending to the administration of 
these institutions. All the ladies who have formed the commission 
in Madrid and the provinces are daily working for education and 
charity. Her Royal Highness the Infanta Isabel presides also at 
many of these meetings, and is at the head of " El Patronato," that 
has branches in all Spain for the care and education of small 
children. 

In industry women take a very important place. 

In Catalonia they work in the factories side by side with their 
fathers and husbands. In Valencia they control the fan and silk 
industry, and in the tobacco factories all the work is done by many 
thousands of girls in every large city. As a rule one can not say 
that women work in the fields in Spain. They do it in the north, 
where the land is very much divided; and in the other districts of 
Spain only during the harvest. 

Unfortunately, the earnings of women are not in accordance 
with their work, and are very much behind those of men; but, as 
has been said, a national commission for social reforms has been 
acting in Spain for some time, and the first law presented by it 
to the courts was for the protection of the work of women and 
children. 

To-day the State recognizes woman, giving her the education 
of the children in a great many public schools, and admitting her 
to the telegraph and the telephone work. 

It is not possible, in the short time and the short space devoted 
to this paper, to give an exact idea of the character of the Spanish 
woman; but, apart from the exhibit in the Woman's Building — 
where her education and accomplishments can be studied, and 
where it is proved that she takes an active part in the national life — 
it is a good illustration of her enterprise to note what a slight 
examination of the catalogue shows, that there are 664 women 
exhibitors, nearly one-fourth of the total number of the Spanish 
exhibitors, and that women take part in all branches of work and 
thought. 

The Duchess of Veragua. 



ITALY. 

TO woman as a "ministering angel" a responsive world has 
rendered homage for centuries. 

Of woman in her " hours of ease," of the dainty work 
that occupied her fingers and thoughts in the centuries prior to the 
invention of printing, little has been said or sung, if we except the 
famous Penelope, with her rather wearisome embroidery, and the 
equally renowned tapestry of the wife of William the Conqueror. 

It is said that if all the portraits painted by Titian could be 
placed together, we should have an absolutely perfect historical 
collection of the great personages of his century. 

Were it possible to make a complete collection of lace and 
embroidery, it would be an equally valuable pictorial history. 

There exists in England a piece of lace made in the reign of 
Elizabeth which tells the story of the Spanish Armada; the angry 
waves are as billowy as lace can make them, and the discomfited 
galleys are historically interesting in outline. 

It is a pleasant thought that the art of lace-making, like the 
early pictures of Cimabue and Giotto, was called into being and 
encouraged by the religious spirit of the age. Pleasant, because 
the old masters were " teachers of men," and, before the invention 
of printing, sought to bring holy thoughts to men's minds by the 
power of their art; indeed the Italian peasant still calls lace " nuns' 
work." 

Lace is, however, of far more ancient origin. Recent discov- 
eries have proved beyond a doubt that the making of lace was 
practiced by the Lake Dwellers; fragments of drawn work have 
also been found in Etruscan tombs and wrapped about Egyptian 
mummies, and specimens come as well from the savage tribes of 
Africa; in fact, wherever woman has made a home the needle has 
told its story. The story may be woven in the costly meshes 
known as Argentan or Alen$on, or in the less complicated "points " 
of Brussels, Mechlin, and Venice, but to the thoughtful, each piece of 
lace is the history of a portion of a woman's life. 

In Venice a sailor once brought his lady-love a sprig of coral 

(265) 



266 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



from distant seas, and she, sitting dreamily, in his absence, copied 
the delicate branches in lace, and thus produced one of the love- 
liest of Venetian designs. 

Venetian lace resembles the foam of the Adriatic as the waves 
break on the Lido. Just as her famous glass has caught in its iri- 
descent splendor the matchless delicacy of her sunsets over the 
lagoons, so her point laces express in their lightness and variety 
the unique charm of the place. Compare them, for instance, with 
the Flemish laces, dear stolid Antwerp with her "pot lace " that is 




COLLECTION OF LACE NEEDLES AND BOBBINS. 
Exhibited by the Committee of Italian Ladies. 



so in request by old ladies for their caps! The flower-pot is all 
that is left of a once charming design of the annunciation; the 
graceful figures of the Virgin and of the angel Gabriel have dis- 
appeared, but the lily in its pot on the window-sill has survived. 

In the splendor-loving days of France, girls with little baskets 
of lace went about the streets of Paris selling dainty -jabots and 
collars, as flower-girls sell their wares nowadays. 

The prejudices against this most feminine industry are hap- 
pily dissipating before the well-authenticated statistics concerning 
the physical and moral well-being of the lace-workers of this 




BAPTISMAL VEIL OF QUEEN CAROLINE OF NAPLES. 

Exhibited by Marchioness Mazzecorati. 

RED SATIN EMBROIDERED COVER, VENICE, XV CENTURY. 

Exhibited by Countess di Brazza. 

JABOT OF JEROME BONAPARTE. KING OF WESTPHALIA. 

FLOUNCE OF THE QUEEN OF WESTPHALIA. Exhibited by COUNTESS Di Papadopoli. 

Italy. 



268 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

century. (I give precedence to the word physical, considering the 
moral largely dependent upon it.) 

In the Woman's Building at the Columbian Exposition the 
history of lace, from prehistoric times to the most perfect speci- 
mens of the modern school of Burano, is illustrated in a collection 
of great interest, including the priceless antique laces graciously 
lent by Her Majesty the Queen of Italy. 

There is a complete set of antique bobbins of bone, terra cotta, 
bronze, and ivory, and the figure of a woman with her pillow of 
unfinished lace to illustrate the process. 

The revival of the lace industry has resulted all over Italy in the 
greatest benefit to the peasantry, the success of which is greatly ow- 
ing to the indefatigable energy of an American, Cora Slocomb, Count- 
ess di Brazza, whose untiring example has inspired many others. 

It is customary to think of Italy as a country that has had her 
day. No mistake is greater. Bologna, the quaint old university 
town, with her leaning towers, her picturesque arcaded streets, and 
medieval palaces, is still mentally alive, and has kept awake dur- 
ing the long sleep of centuries in which some of the nations lay 
unconscious. 

There are at present fifteen women students in the university, 
the most learned of whom is a Signorina Catani of Imola, twenty- 
eight years of age, who has been a student there for nine years, and 
is now assistant to Professor Tizzoni in " general pathology." She is 
a worthy successor to the famous Bolognese women of the past who 
occupied the chairs of philosophy, jurisprudence, and medicine. 

Among these, as early as the twelfth century, the famous Novella 
lectured upon philosophy. Her beauty equaled her learning, so 
that she was obliged to lecture behind a veil in order not to endan- 
ger the peace of mind of the sterner sex! 

In the thirteenth century Bettisia Gozzadini was a " reader of 
law " in the university. Her portrait is in Bologna, a truly lovely 
head, an ideal Portia! 

Laura Bassi, wife of Professor Verati, was professor of philosophy, 
and equally learned in mathematics and physics. She was a member 
of the Academy of Bologna,and devoted her leisure to writing poetry. 

The pride of Bologna, the woman whom the university justly 
delights to honor, is Anna Manzolini, who, 1 1 5 years ago, filled the 
chair of anatomy at the university. Her wonderful anatomical 
reproductions in wax, as well as the portrait busts of herself and 
her husband which she modeled, are still to be seen there. She 
was made an honorary member of all the scientific and literary 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 269 

academies of Europe, and offered professorships in Milan, London, 
and St. Petersburg, but she never left Bologna. 

The famous Clotilde Tambroni filled the Greek professorship at 
the university at the beginning of this century, and is naively 
described by her Italian biographer as " singularly modest in voice, 




MACRAME TOWELS. 

Modern and Ancient Designs. The Evolution of Macrame from 

Simple Knots to Fine Lace. Italy. 

gestures, and dress, even at the height of her glory." The future of 
Italy is as full of hope as her past is rich in example, and under 
the stimulating influence of Margherita di Savoia, not merely 
"Queen of Italy," but intellectually the highest lady in the land, 
the future of woman grows daily brighter 

Eva Mariotti. 




EMBROIDERY. Charlotte Georgeville. France. 



WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN 

STATES. 

IN order to obtain a correct appreciation of the present condi- 
tion of the Spanish-American woman it will be necessary to 
bear in mind the influence exerted by many circumstances 
appertaining to ancient times, as well as the action of more recent 
and immediate causes. 

The bulk of the Spanish-American population is mainly com- 
posed of two elements: First, the descendants of the Spanish con- 
querors. Second, the native Indian races of Central and South 
America. The first one, although far inferior in numbers, has 
always been and continues to be the only ruling power in all the 
states. 

These two elements brought into contact during four centuries 
have never become assimilated to any considerable extent. It 
might be said that they have rather kept themselves at a distance 
from each other, so that the overwhelming majority still remains a 
pure-blooded Indian, while only a small portion of it has become 
mixed with the Spanish race. 

But even this partial union of those elements could not produce 
any substantial change in the position of woman in the Spanish- 
American colonies. She had always lived surrounded by a similar 
atmosphere and placed under similar circumstances in Spanish as 
well as in Indian civilization, her field of action never extending 
beyond the narrow limits of the family and of religious institutions, 
the church, convent, etc. In public life she was totally absent, abso- 
lutely ignored, as if she could not have any political significance 
whatever. Beyond the walls of the family dwellings she could 
become nothing but a Spanish nun or an Indian vestal. 

The form of government was essentially monarchical and theo- 
cratic in Spain, as it was in Indian countries. The divine right of 
kings was the same in both; and, as a natural consequence, in the 
course of several centuries the most exclusive religious sentiment 
became the main characteristic of the population. It must be 
added that the secular war in which Spain fought for national 

(271) 




•T^^^F^ 




■^.» ;■.,,,;„ — -~ 



PARIS VASE— Medallion in Polychrome Painting on Gray Enamel. 
Mme. E. Apoil. France. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 273 

independence and religious creed made a single block of these 
two principles, and fused patriotic feeling and the Catholic faith 
to such a degree that they became one and the same thought and 
aspiration in every part of that warlike and proud nation. Such 
is the mold in which Spanish-American character was shaped. 



BAS RELIEF— "OPHELIA." Sarah Bernhardt. France. 

The effects of this cause were, of course, much deeper in 
woman's character, owing to her natural sensibility, her instinctive 
religious tendency, and the docility with which she adapts herself 
to the influences prevailing in her home. Being inexorably ex- 
cluded from all participation in political or public life, her patriotic 

18 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 275 

feeling remained latent, the whole of her activity being thus com- 
pletely absorbed by her domestic duties and religious worship. 

Laws, traditions, and habits worked together in restraining to 
an excessive degree the freedom and power of woman, even in the 
narrow field of her strictly private life. Her existence from begin- 
ning to end passed in passive submission to the authority and will 
of her lord and master; and in spite of the chivalrous character of 
the Spaniard, the companion of his life was no better than any of 
her oriental ancestors, an imprisoned or enslaved beauty, deprived 
of all the blessings and advantages of education and learning. 

Yet it is doubtful if there are more intelligent or better endowed 
women in any region of the earth. Her quick comprehension, her 
bright imagination, her artistic propensities, her truly wonderful 
precocity, and even her impulsive and passionate character, will evi- 
dently mark in the course of time the transformation of this brill- 
iant and fascinating spoiled child into the noblest type of woman, 
shining amidst the elements of national and universal progress. 
I am conscious of not overestimating the richness of her nature 
when I affirm that there is no heroic self-al negation, no sublime 
ideal, no delicate refinement, no degree of moral courage to which 
she can not rise. 

The war for the emancipation of the Spanish colonies of Amer- 
ica was the first shock that awakened the Spanish-American 
woman from her slumbers, and opened to her astonished eyes a 
new and brilliant horizon. She was everywhere an enthusiastic 
agent and a devoted champion of the independent party, carrying 
her action so far that on several occasions the Spanish military 
executions reddened with her blood the soil she labored to liberate. 

During the protracted period of internal convulsion and civil 
war that preceded the organization and present state of the Span- 
ish-American republics, the influence of woman was frequently 
felt in prominent events of political life. She had no right granted 
by law to interfere with such matters, but she deemed her right to 
be sufficiently justified by her own self-sacrifice in the war for 
independence. Her action was in many instances an efficient 
force that brought about the final solution, and gave rise to deep 
changes — nay, to the very existence of new governments. 

In later years new laws have swept away some of the most 
powerful obstacles opposed by ancient legislation to the improve- 
ment of woman's position in private and public life. The barrier 
of religious intolerance was partially demolished in several of the 
new republics, and the free access of foreign immigration to their 



276 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



respective territories produced a large number of inter-marriages 

and of new homes where an enlightened and liberal spirit prevails. 

Public and private education began to spread in the upper 

classes of the young nations, although for the most part it still 




V. . v.,.' ; 

PAINTING— "THE OLD MAN'S SOUP." Mme. ARTHUR ARNOULD. FRANCE. 

remained in the hands of sectarian teachers and religious institu- 
tions. But in the last score of years a most considerable progress 
has been accomplished by the united action of governments and 
private individuals in the principal Spanish-American states. 



IX THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 277 

It is with the deepest feeling- of joy and pride that I call atten- 
tion to the influence of our sex in this great evolution. Nearly all 
the schools for girls are actually placed under the control of female 
teachers; normal schools for women are amply supported or pro- 
tected by the national authorities; large and beautiful buildings, 
that in some cities are true palaces, have been erected for educa- 
tional purposes; and hundreds of foreign professors are being con- 
tinually brought from their native countries to the hospitable and 
promising homes of Spanish America. 

The majority of female teachers are native girls, who have 
obtained reliable credentials ; and it can be confidently asserted 
that there will be in the future no lack or deficiency in the supply 
of intelligent direction for all public schools. 

This has been the first authorized step of the Spanish-Ameri- 
can woman's career beyond the limits of domestic life. Another 
important movement, attained by a strength of will and moral 
courage of which no one unacquainted with Spanish countries can 
even form an idea, is the admission lately granted to female students 
to the curriculum of the regular universities. 

To duly appreciate this success it will be necessary to remember 
certain circumstances peculiar to several of the Spanish-American 
countries which formed an almost impassable barrier against so 
great an innovation. For many generations woman had been 
regarded in every Spanish community as a being deprived by nature 
of every condition of mind and character fit for any sober or serious 
purpose. She could be but a comfort and an ornament in the home 
of her proud and indolent master. On the other hand, with the 
exception of legal and military affairs, labor in whatever form was 
sincerely despised by the nobility, or governing class, of the country. 
Even such professions as medicine, architecture, and engineering 
(as it existed at the time) were carried on by individuals of the 
colored race, and not infrequently by slaves. Contempt for labor 
had thus become in all classes of society a habit, an instinct, a 
deeply rooted feeling, that even to this day shows its vitality in 
spite of foreign intercourse and advanced education. Daily expe- 
rience, with its eloquent teachings, has to a certain extent under- 
mined that ancient prejudice. Still, what remains of the old spirit 
is enough to shake the most resolute courage. 

It might therefore be said in all truth that the Spanish-Ameri- 
can woman has carried the position by storm, and she may justly 
be proud of her new victory. 

Although in very limited numbers, there are at present lawyers, 



278 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

physicians, dentists, midwives of the female sex, who sustain a 
decorous position among their male colleagues. 

The expansive force of her natural talent has found a broad 
field besides in almost every branch of art and literature — drawing, 
painting, music, poetry, romance afford a pleasant employment for 
the leisure hours of the educated woman, and in many instances 
have given her a reputation which extends beyond the boundaries 
of her native country. Several women rank as high in Spanish liter- 
ature, especially in poetry, as some of the old classic writers, and 
stand almost on a level with the very best poets of the present day. 

Even the political press begins to feel the influence of woman, 
there being already a few daily or periodical newspapers edited 
by women, and devoted to the interest of some political organiza- 
tion. It is unnecessary to add that they are always enthusiastic 
defenders of woman's rights. 

It must not be forgotten that the foregoing remarks concern 
only a small class of women placed in the most favorable circum- 
stances, and that even among them literary and artistic labor are 
not professional. Still, there is no doubt that before long it will 
become as useful and productive as any career opened to the activity 
of our sex. 

The number of girls and women belonging to the middle class 
(and they are generally more or less educated) who find in their 
own exertions some means of support is very limited indeed. In 
the great majority of cases they remain a burden to their parents, 
their husbands, or some other male members of the family; and, in 
spite of their natural disinterestedness, girls are sometimes induced 
to accept a marriage by necessity rather than by choice. 

This truly deplorable condition of affairs can not be suddenly 
changed, as it is a natural effect of the peculiar organization of 
Spanish society. The Spaniard, and, still more, his American 
descendant, deems himself disgraced, dishonored, if it is known 
that his wife, his daughter, or his sister works for her living, or for 
the improvement of her home. Such a prejudice and false pride 
could only have arisen in the period of fantastic wealth, when 
almost everybody lived rich and happy in the Spanish colonies 
without the trouble of any personal labor, for all the work was 
carried on by slaves. That immense wealth passed away long 
ago, yet the old proud feeling still remains. How long will it last? 

Let us hope that more frequent intercourse with foreign peoples, 
together with the necessity of securing domestic happiness by 
providing young girls with elements of self-support, so as to make 




IN THE woman's building. 271) 

them the companions and helpmates, not the servile attendants, of 
their husbands, will soon do away with that unnatural inactivity of 
so many intelligent and educated women. 

With the exception of some of the post office, telephone, and 
telegraphic offices, there is not a single official bureau where women 
are regularly employed ; and besides certain lines of tramways in 
a few cities, and occasionally in a small number of stores and shops, 
they are never seen anywhere in the vast field of public or private 
activity. ^^"^r~ 

To close the series of these brief ^-V- 

notes, I submit two very significant 
facts, viz.: First, the spirit of associa- , / 
tion for serious and useful purposes, 
lately initiated among the Spanish- , 
American women and attaining every 
day more remarkable proportions. 
vSecond, the ever-increasing circula- 
tion of literary and scientific books 
and periodicals among the women of | 
the principal cities in almost every 
one of those States. 

It is' the moral duty, as well as the f 
practical interest, of the North Ameri- \ 
can people to extend to the young and 
promising nations of Spanish-America 
the influence of their modern insti- 
tutions, and the liberal and progress- 
ive spirit which is advancing the cause 
of woman ; and very particularly the 
atmosphere of freedom and encour- 
agement that surrounds the life of our embossed coppers. 

. 1 ., . . Rosalie Juel. Sweden. 

sex m the North. No field richer m 

promise can be opened to their energies than the more complete 
social emancipation of the Spanish-American woman — a blessing 
of Avhich she has proved to be worthy in every respect — and that no 
nation could as easily as yours grant to these sympathetic and 
benevolent homes. It seems to me an axiomatic truth that to com- 
plete the personality of woman in the domestic and social life is 
to secure her legitimate influence and civilizing power in the gen- 
eral evolution of mankind. 

Matilde G. de Miro Quesada. 





:• \ « -*• * - 




WATER COLOR PORTRAIT OF HER MAJESTY THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. 

Mlle. Kraneskoi. 



RUSSIA. 

OUT of the distant gloom of the earliest period of our history 
a woman's name shines among the beams that lightened 
the dawn of Christianity. 

Princess Olga, widow of Prince Igor, at the beginning of the 
tenth century, went to Byzantium to be baptized in the Christian 
faith. During the minority of her son Sviatoslav, she ruled her 
land and its chief town, Kieff. The chronicles never use her name 
without the apellation of " most wise." The church has canonized 
her. 

When, in the year 989, her grandson, Prince Vladimir, was on 
the point of making the choice of one of the Christian creeds for 
himself and his people, he said: " Our grandmother Olga, who was 
the wisest woman, was baptized in Greece," and this settled it. 
He was married to the Byzantine Princess Ann, sister of the 
emperors Constantine and Basil. In the second half of the 
eleventh century two Russian princesses, daughters of Yaroslar, 
were Queen of France and Queen of Sweden. In the course of 
later history, names of women but seldom appear, for the way of 
living prohibited them from taking any prominent part in social 
life. They lived in a separate part of the house — so often men- 
tioned in songs and poetry, the " Terem" (the " ladies' high bower " 
of English poems) — and they were but very seldom allowed to 
come into men's society. The Tartar yoke, that lasted from 1224- 
1480, and had such a disastrous influence on the development of 
our civilization, in keeping us back for over two centuries, must be 
taken in consideration when speaking of the women at this period. 
The reign of Peter the Great is generally considered as the epoch 
of a complete change in the Russian woman's social position, but a 
gradual advance toward it can be followed up for a long time before. 
In the fifteenth century, after the fall of Constantinople, John III., 
Grand Duke of Moscow, married the Byzantine Princess Sophia 
Paleologue (hence the Byzantine eagle adopted as the Russian coat- 
of-arms) ; from this time several names of women appear in history. 

Though they are not in immediate connection with any special 

(283) 




PEN AND INK SKETCH— LANDSCAPE. By THE PRINCESS IMIRETINSKY. RUSSIA. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 285 

event, they must be mentioned on aecount of the influence they 
had on their surroundings. In the beginning of the sixteenth 
century the handsome and intelligent Helen Glinsky was known 
for the power she had over her husband, Grand Duke Vassili, 
father of John IV. A happy period in the reign of this cruel 
monarch, surnamed " The Terrible," is due to the influence of 
Anastasia Romanovna, one of his seven wives. His son Theodor's 
wife, Jrina Godounova, was extolled by all foreign travelers and 
ambassadors who came to Moscow, for her charms and beauty and 
her wise and loving dealings with her husband, who lacked strength 
both in mind and body. 

In the second half of the seventeenth century, the family of 
the boyar Artamon Matveiefl was one of the most cultivated in 
Moscow. In this house Tsar Alexis (the second of the present 
reigning family of Romanoffs), who was a widower at this time, 
met the young Nathalie Kirilovna Narishkine, his host's ward. 
The handsome girl captivated the sovereign's heart, became his 
wife, and mother of Peter the Great. 

By his first wife Alexis had a daughter who was certainly one of 
the most remarkable figures of her time. She was intelligent and 
devoted to literature, encouraged dramatic art, and composed some 
tragedies, which unfortunately are lost. During the minority of 
her brothers, John and Peter, the Princess Sophia ruled the king- 
dom in their name. Foreign ambassadors who were received in 
state at the Muscovite court were strongly impressed by the sight 
of two royal boys sitting on a double-seated throne, and obeying 
the whisper of a female voice coming from behind a curtain. Her 
political wisdom and popularity among the people and the army 
were such that Peter, at a later period, considered her of such dan- 
gerous importance that she was captured, relegated to a monastery, 
and forced to take the veil. 

The first years of the last century mark the turning-point in 
our women's social life. Among the innovations that Peter the 
Great imposed on the society of the newly rising St. Petersburg 
were the so-called " assemblies," or evening parties, held at court, 
where ladies were obliged to be present, much to the annoyance of 
the grumbling partisans of " olden times." After Peter the Great's 
death, in 1725, his widow, Catharine I., was the first of a series of 
women who sat on the imperial throne, interrupted only by the 
short reigns of Peter II. and Peter III. These empresses were 
Ann, Duchess of Courland, Peter the Great's niece; Elizabeth, his 
daughter; and lastly, Catharine II. the Great. 




ANCIENT RUSSIAN HEAD-GEAR. Exhibited by Mme. Schabelskoi. Russia. 



IN THE woman's building. 287 

A mention is due of the name of the famous friend of the latter, 
the Princess DashkofT, president of the Academy of Science in St. 
Petersburg. Of great culture and learning, she was known as well 
abroad as in Russia. She had traveled much, and carried on a 
large correspondence with scientific men. Her interesting memoirs, 
w r ritten in French, form a volume of the " Prince Worontzoff's 
archives." 

The first female educational institutions date from the reign of 
Catharine the Great. Seminaries for girls of noble families were 
founded, the education given being somewhat like the French 
convent education. 

Empress Maria Theodorovna, wife of Paul L, continued the 
same work. With untiring and never-failing love she encouraged 
all private and official activity in the field of education and charity. 
The number of seminaries, schools, hospitals, homes, etc., opened 
under her high patronage grew to such an extent that after her 
death it was considered necessary to found a special ministry for 
their management; they formed the "Institutions of Empress 
Maria," and have been ever since the object of special care to all 
our empresses. 

In the middle of this century rises a brilliant name indissolubly 
connected with all the great events of her time. The Grand 
Duchess Helene Pavlovna, sister-in-law of Nicholas I., was remarka- 
ble, not only for her talents, but also for the fascinating power she 
had of attracting around her all who were prominent in literature, 
art, science, and politics. The musical and literary gatherings 
in the " Palais Michel " were famous. She founded and was the 
first president of the St. Petersburg Musical Conservatory. 
Emperor Alexander II. highly appreciated her intelligence, and 
she was one of his nearest counselors in the great act of the 
emancipation of serfs. In her charity and educational activity, 
which was great, she was efficiently assisted by Baroness Edith 
Rahden. The work is continued by her daughter, the Grand 
Duchess Catherine, who is at the head of the institutions and schools 
of the Patriotic Society. 

This brings us to our own times, in which the great increase of 
feminine activity strikes us so much that I feel the insufficiency of 
my pen to do justice to this vast theme. So many namse 
shine in so many different branches that it is impossible to give 
here any just account of this activity. A great impulse to education 
has been given by the foundation of establishments of different 
types, especially gymnasiums and progymnasiums, not only in the 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



289 



chief towns, but even in the small provincial places. Finally the 
higher university education was opened to women in 1872, in 
Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, and KharkofT. Private initiative and 




REPRODUCTION OF CURTAIN OF THE THRONE OF THE CZARS 
JEAN AND PETER, 1681. 
Lent by Mme. Schabelskoi, Member of the Imperial Russian 
Historical Museum. 



means have greatly contributed to the development of the inter- 
mediate and higher education, such as the gymnasiums of Mme. 

Taganzefr Soiounine, Princess Obolensky in Petersburg, Mme. 
19 



IX THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 291 

Perepeltine Tchepelevsky Zabeline in Moscow, and many others. 
Mme. Sibiriakoff (from Siberia) has done much for the advanced 
courses of philology and natural science in St. Petersburg, which 
are held in a great building provided with all resources for study- 
ing, such as a library, laboratories, etc. 

In Science a conspicuous place belongs to the much-lamented 
Mme. Kovalevsky, who was a distinguished mathematician and 
writer. At the Astronomical Congress in Paris she took the 
first prize for her essay, " On the Movement of a Spherical Body 
round an Immutable Point." She was corresponding member of 
the Parisian Academy of Science, and was appointed professor of 
astronomy at the men's university of Stockholm. She died two 
years ago, not. much over thirty years of age. 

An honorable place belongs to Countess Ouvaroff , who, after the 
death of her husband, was unanimously elected president of the 
Archaeological Society and director of the Archaeological Museum at 
Moscow. 

Medicine has been much studied by women in the last twenty 
years. Over seven hundred women who have been graduated as 
doctors are scattered over the country, being of incalculable help, 
especially in the southeastern part of our country, to the Moham- 
medan population, where women are debarred from receiving mas- 
culine medical help. Mesdames SouslofT, Schepeleff, Koshevaroff, 
Tarnovsky, and others have acquired a reputation in the medical 
world. 

Besides this, in the smallest rural hospital every doctor is 
assisted by a trained professional nurse. 

The institution of the Red Cross is of great importance, and has 
never failed in any occasion of war, famine, or epidemic. One of its 
first-rate establishments, the Community of St. Georges, in Peters- 
burg, is under the high patronage of the Princess Eugenie of 
Oldenbourg, and is directed by the Countess E. Haydn. 

In Literature, in the first quarter of this century, the name of 
Countess Rostopchine is in that pleiad-like group of poets that 
group themselves around the brilliant figures of Poushkine and 
Lermontofl. At that epoch of intense literary life in Moscow, the 
salon of the Princess Zeneide Wolkonsky was the meeting, place 
of all writers and poets. She was one of the most prominent 
women of her time, a distinguished musician, and very literary. 
She left some writings, among them an interesting correspondence 
with the Polish poet Mickievicz. A similar salon, renowned for its 
political influence and literary importance, was held in Paris by 




TERRA COTTA BUST. Princess Schakowskov. Russia. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 203 

the Russian ambassador's wife, Princess Lieven, intimate friend of 
Guizot and other French celebrities of this time. 

Valuable memoirs have been left by Empress Catharine the 
Great, Empress Maria Theodovoura (not published), Countess 
Choiseul Gouffie, Mme. Passek, Countess Bloudoff, and the still 
living Mme. Shestakoff, sister of the composer Glinka. 

In our days Mmes. Olga Shapiro, Eugenie Tour (Countess 
Salias), Krestovsky, and Kohanovsky are distinguished and very 
popular novelists. Many women devote their pen to literature for 
children and youths. The name of Mme. Novikoff (Olga Kireieff) 
is well known by all who are interested in political writings. 

/;/ Art women chiefly excel in its application to industry. A 
great deal has been done by them to raise the level of artistic taste. 
Mme. Couriard has the merit of being the initiator of the first 
women's artistic club in St. Petersburg, which she has directed for 
many years. Much is due in this connection to the school of the 
" Society of Encouragement of Arts " and its rich museum, founded 
by the late Grand Duchess Maria Nicolaevna, president of the 
Academy of Fine Arts. 

As individual artists we must mention Mme. Lagoda Shishkine 
and Marie Bashkirtzeff , who both, unfortunately, died young. The 
latter has the honor of being represented in the Luxembourg 
picture gallery in Paris. Mile. Polienoff is a distinguished painter 
and clever connoisseur. Mmes. Boehm and Beggrow-Hartmann are 
original painters of children scenes and portraits. As sculptors, 
Mme. Van-der-Hoven and Mme. Dulon. 

In Music, Mme. Essipoff was pronounced by Liszt the first female 
pianist of our time. 

In Dramatic Art, Mme. Samoiloff has left a great name, and 
Mmes. Fedotoff and YermolofT are the ornaments of the Moscow 
Dramatic Theater at this moment. 

The last few years have brought up quite a new kind of activity 
that consists in helping, encouraging, and directing the rural indus- 
tries of peasant women. Hand-made laces, embroideries, rugs, car- 
pets, spinning, weaving, knitting, etc., have all been taken under their 
patronage by lady land-owners in their country places. Schools, 
museums, stores, and bazars have been arranged in the largest towns, 
so as to make these products known, and facilitate their sale. 

Mme. A. Narishkine in the province of Tamboff, Mme. G. 
Narishkine, Mme. Davidoff , Mme. Mamontoff near Moscow, Princess 
Ouroussoff in Toula, and many others devote their time, money, 
and energy toward enlarging and spreading these industries. 




ANCIENT RUSSIAN HEAD-GEAR. EXHIBITED BY Mme. SCHABELSKOI. RUSSIA. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 295 

Mme. Schabelskoy's most wonderful and rare eollection of 
Russian woman's ancient work is not yet open to the public, but is 
of greatest scientific importance as saving from oblivion old 
patterns and designs. 

Of Charity I find it unnecessary to speak, for in Russia, as every- 
where else, woman has always considered it her special field. 

Something of the status of Russian woman can be learned from 
the following details: She inherits (when there is no special 
testament) the fourteenth part of her father's and seventh part 
of her husband's fortune. In marrying she keeps all rights of 
possession in complete equality with the man. Land-owuiing gives 
her all the same privileges, such as voting (not personally, but by 
proxy) in the provincial and municipal elections. 

Thus we see that Russian woman takes a great part in the 
social and political life of her country; and that whichever way man 
wishes to direct his activity, woman will always stand by him with 
helping and encouraging hand. 

Our national literature that has always truly represented Russian 
life in all its depths and variety has made of the Russian woman 
a beloved and inexhaustible subject. Its masterpieces offer high- 
est examples of feminine character; the type has been immortal- 
ized by the pen of such men as Poushkine, Tolstoy, Tourgueneff, 
Gontcharoff , and Russian women can be proud of the tribute that 
fiction pays to reality. 

Princess M. Schahovskoy. 

Attention is called to the beautiful entrance of the Russian section. This is a 
reproduction of a Byzantine gate of the twelfth century, in the famous church of 
Tourieff Polski. It is made of oak, and is a triumph of fine joiner's work, not one 
nail being used. The quaint and delicate design is produced by a method invented 
by the Princess Schakowskoy. The surface of the wood is overlaid with real gold- 
leaf, from which the design is burnt out. The color produced by the gold sinking 
into the wood is very rich and unique. We are glad to learn that this piece of work, 
which was designed and made by Russian women, may be bought and retained in 
our country at the close of the Fair. — Ed. 




PAINTED GLASS WINDOW. CECILIA BOKLUND. SWEDEN. 



SWEDEN. 



THE love of knowledge is a distinguishing feature in the char- 
acter of Swedes. 

The Swedish woman has not manifested less love of 
knowledge than is attributed to her nation. 

A certain amount of school education has for centuries been 
considered necessary to woman, and, especially in the middle of 
this century, claims arose for a higher standard in her education. 




ALTAR PIECE — ROMANESQUE STYLE. 
Designed by A. Branting ; "Friends of Handiwork. 



Sweden. 



The royal academies of music and fine arts, the training schools 
for sloid and gymnastics were opened to women, and they have 
the same rights as men for studying at the universities. 

As teachers, principals of schools, members of school boards, 
lady inspectors, authors in pedagogics, etc., women have attained 
an influence which is steadily increasing. 

The endeavors to raise the standard of manual work has called 
forth the efforts of many Swedish women. Misses Eva Rodhe and 
Hulda Lundin have developed the excellent systems of sloid. The 

(299) 




PAINTED SCREEN — IMITATION GOBELIN. Anna Bobekg. Sweden. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 301 

latter exhibits a series of models in the Swedish section of the 
Woman's Building, where is also to be seen a very fine collection 
of fancy works from the Society of Art Handiwork, and from 
Misses Giobel, Kulle, Zickerman, Ahrberg, Randel, Ingelotz, and 
others. 

This society has in a high degree refined the taste and raised 




LINEN CHATTADUK WALL HANGING. Mme. ClLLUF ALSSON, SCANIA. SWEDEN. 

the standard of woman's industrial work. It has adapted old 
designs and encouraged the original Swedish lace-work, tapestry, 
and weaving, and by doing so has preserved for the country a 
national industrial art which might otherwise have been entirely 
lost. 



302 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



We find in this section some fine etched glass by Mrs. Petterson, 
and a cistern in embossed copper by Mrs. Jtiel. 




:.-,--- .-;:v»v- ;.-^t^ ib'- 

filltiflt 



Pllil 











TAPESTRY. Bengka Olsson. Sweden. 



An interesting medal exhibit is given by Lea Ahlborn, who is 
connected with the royal mint, and designs medals for the govern- 
ment. 



IN THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. 



303 



The portrait of the Queen of Sweden and Norway, patroness of 
the Swedish Ladies Committee to the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion, hangs on the wall of the booth, and is surrounded by 
tapestries. 

In the library of the building are 1 30 volumes by the most emi- 
nent authors, from which we cite the names of Sta Briggita, Fredrika 
Bremer, Leffler-Caianello, Benedictson, Olivecrona, Adlersparre, 
Roos, and others. 

Several portraits have been hung in Assembly Hall. Among 
them are pictures of Jenny Lind, 
Christine Nilsson, Fredrika Bre- 
mer, and Sta Briggita. 

A stand holds music written by 
Mrs. Netzel, Misses Aulin, Andree, 
and Munktell. 

A beautiful portfolio and an 
album in embossed leather, by Miss 
Gisberg, incloses photographs and 
biographies of eminent musicians 
and authors of the present time. 

A large number of ladies have 
studied at the Academy of Fine 
Arts, and many female names have 
been prominent among the paint- 
ers of the last decades. 

Among the exhibitors in the 
Swedish Section of Fine Arts, we 
find Mrs. Pauli, Mrs. Chadwick, 
Misses Bonnier, Schultzenheim, 
Keyser, and Jolin, and in the Swed- 
ish pavilion, water-colors by Miss 
Anna Palm. 

As we have tried to show by 
the- above, the Swedish woman 
takes a great interest and an active 
part in the great works of culture, 
and it was, therefore, with much pleasure she received the 
invitation from her American sister, the most accomplished woman 
of our time, to take part in the Columbian Exposition. 

Thorborg Rappe. 




LARGE GOBLET OF ETCHED GLASS. 
Hilda Petterson. Sweden. 




COSTUME OF A " HEDEBIPOGE "—PEASANT WOMAN OF ZEELAND. Denmark. 



DENMARK. 

LAND of the North, of short somber days and long gloomy 
nights! If during half the year nature seems to chastise 
your people with one hand, she blesses them with the other. 
The long winter evenings must perforce be spent at the fireside; 




CUSHION AND WORKCASE. 

Formerly Given by a Lover to His Betrothed ; from the Island of Amager. 

Exhibited by Mme. Holmblad, nee Schack. Denmark. 



thus a love of home is developed, and with it a cultivation of 
those homely gifts which transform the cottage hearth into a school 
of domestic art. 

20 (305; 



306 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



From time immemorial the peasants have gathered around 
their firesides in the long winter evenings, the men carving 
wood or mending their nets, the women busy with their looms and 



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OIL PAINTING — FLOWERS. 
By Queen Louise of Denmark, nee Princess of Hesse. Denmark. 

embroidery, while the tillage story-teller recites tales of war, of 
love, and of chivalry. In the National Museum at Copenhagen 
and in many Danish houses we find mementos of those evenings 



:n the woman s building. 



307 



of long ago. In making a selection for the exhibit of work to be 
sent to the Woman's Building at Chicago, it has been thought best 
to give, as it were, a retrospective glance at the work of the Danish 
women in the past, as their modern industries are fully represented 
by Denmark's general exhibit. 




OLD SILK PETTICOAT. 

In the Possession of the d'Arenstorff Family for Two Hundred Years 

Exhibited by Mme. Vallo, nee d'Arenstorff. Denmark. 

The most ancient article in the collection is a superb petticoat, 
embroidered by hand, belonging to Madame Wallo, nee d'Arens- 
torff, which has been in her family since the seventeenth century. 
A baptismal robe is remarkable for the daintiness of the stitchery; 
the baby doll, in state swaddling-clothes, and the bridal veil are 



308 



ART AND HANDICRAFT 



worthy of notice. The heavy brocades, embroidered linen, and 
peasant costumes are all characteristic and interesting. One rare 
and beautiful piece of work, a sewing cushion, has a certain 
romantic interest; it is the gift of a lover to his betrothed, and sig- 
nifies that the time to prepare the trousseau has come. 

The vinaigrettes and antique perfumery bottles exhibited are 
remarkable for the number and variety of their designs. 







CARVED WOOD FRAME. MLLE. HAWKINS. DENMARK. 



The fichus in silk embroidery of H. R. H. the princess royal 
form the beautiful head-dress and mantle of the costume worn by 
the peasants on the Island of L'Amerger. 

A crowning interest in the exhibit is found in the painting of 

roses and lilies by Her Majesty Queen Louise; artistic embroidery 

and illuminated parchment by the princess royal of Denmark; 

three water-colors by Her Royal Highness Princess Woldersov, and 

the exquisite ebony frame designed and executed by Miss Hawkins 

in the highest style of workmanship. 

Mme. D'Oxholm. 



GREECE. 

SCARCELY sixty years have passed since Greece regained her 
liberty. During the servile period of her history the status 
of women was alike precarious and miserable. Man was 
indeed a slave; but woman was the slave of a slave. So ancient 
tradition decreed, which even to-day underlies the manners of the 
Greeks, strengthened by Mussulman influences which have left 
their impress upon the subjugated generations. 

Even now, in the country and the smaller provincial towns, 
woman is regarded as an inferior being. In the enumeration of his 
children, the father ignores the females. Women are not privi- 
leged to sit at meat with guests; while in the rural districts they 
are subjected to the severest labors, cultivating the soil and bowing 
beneath the weight of grievous burdens of wood and water, brought 
from a distance. In the villages they remain in-doors, and are 
seldom seen abroad. In the evening they sit upon their balconies, 
and on Sunday they offer their prayers within the space reserved 
for them in the sanctuary. An active participation in affairs is the 
prerogative of men only, who read the papers, learn the condition 
of the markets, and make all the purchases for the household. 

This rigor is somewhat relaxed in the larger cities, where 
greater liberty and consideration are accorded to women. Yet 
even here their tasks are limited to the education of children and 
the management of domestic affairs. They have no special occu- 
pation, no industry to follow, unless it be that of a servant or gov- 
erness, or perhaps occasionally the trade of a seamstress or modiste, 
or an operative in one of the few cotton or silk factories. 

This degraded condition of Greek women is readily understood, 
since Greece, during the centuries preceding her proclamation of 
independence, subject to Turkish rule, and, as it were, isolated 
from the rest of the world, failed to participate in the great move- 
ment of the Renaissance which awakened the civilization of Europe. 
Roused by her heroic struggle for liberty, she at last recovered 
the position lost in submission to the yoke of foreign invasion; 
yet rising from the ruins of her glory, it was necessary, before 

( 309) 



310 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

turning attention to the social state of her women, to cultivate the 
wasted soil, rebuild her cities and towns, and perfect the govern- 
ment. To these ends have the Greek government and citizens 
labored incessantly, even to this day. 




EMBROIDERED SILK CUSHION. 
Designed by Agnes Branting; Exhibited by "The Friends of Handiwork." Sweden. 

Meanwhile, private enterprise has sought to ameliorate the con- 
dition of women. A wealthy patriot, Arsarkis, at his own expense, 
erected a women's college in Athens. Unfortunately the " Arsar- 
kion," as it was called in honor of its founder, is not a free institu- 
tion ; and the same obstacle to Qr-eneral education attends the 



IX THE woman's building, 311 

establishment of three private schools in Athens, which, together 
with lour or live others m the entire kingdom and the "Arsarkion," 
are the only means afforded to young women of receiving any- 
thing more than a primary education. 

Under such conditions it is easy to understand that art among 
women is but little developed in Greece, being apparent only in 
weaving and embroidery. From earliest times the Greek women 
have spun wool, flax, and silk — as in the Homeric portraiture of 
Penelope- — yet this industry remained comparatively uncultivated 
until the "Society for the Advancement of Women," under the 
patronage of Her Majesty Queen Olga, with Madame Skouses as 
president, established an industrial school for poor women. 

This school, where 450 women and girls are employed, has 
hecome a source of supply, providing not only the most beautiful 
models and patterns of weaving and embroidery executed in the 
style native to the country, but the most exquisite needlework in 
European fashion. 

Moreover, the institution is a philanthropic one, furnishing 
work for 450 needy women, giving them elementary instruction 
and providing dinners at a cost of from two to four cents. All labor 
is piece-work, at prices determined by the superintendent of the 
society, and all the articles sent to the Exposition are the produc' 
of the above institution in Athens. 

In the Hellenic provinces women execute similar work. At Trip- 
oli and Leonidi, in the Peloponnesus, and at Arachona and Atlanta, 
in Locris, carpets are woven; at Kalamata, in Messenia, and at Aghia 
and Ambelakia, in Thessaly, silk-stuffs are made; at Tripoli, Argos, 
Missolonghi, and Levadia cotton goods are manufactured; and at 
Tyrnavo, in Thessaly, printed cottons are prepared. Besides these 
manufactures, like fabrics are made in almost every home, and in 
a large proportion of houses we find a loom. 

It is in the execution of these textile articles that the taste of 
the Greek women is displayed. Their work possesses, moreover, 
a quality of original design and of simplicity, without sacrifice of 
delicate detail, which augurs favorably for the future development 
of women's industries in Greece. 

Madame Quellenec. 




OIL PAINTING — "AUTUMN EVENING." E. Beernart. BELGIUM. 



BELGIUM. 

r T^HE exhibit made by Belgium in the Woman's Building- 
was collected by a committee under the patronage of Her 
Majesty the Queen of the Belgians. The honorary presi- 
dent, the Countess of Flanders, is well known not only as a patron 
of the arts and industries of women, but as a painter herself. The 
president, Mme. de Denterghen, is maid of honor to the Queen; 
the other officers and members of the committee are all women 
whose high positions have enabled them to gather together the 
very valuable collection which is installed in that section of the 
Woman's Building devoted to Belgium. The arrangement of the 
space is very charming. Passing under some finely wrought hang- 
ings, the work and gift of Belgian working-women, the visitor 
finds himself in a salon, hung with good pictures, and filled with 
cases containing fine examples of china-painting, fan-painting and 
mounting, miniatures, embroideries, and laces. The best known 
of the contemporaneous women painters, Mme. Ronner, is repre- 
sented by one of her inimitable paintings of a group of cats, which 
hangs in the Hall of Honor. Other people have painted cats, but 
Mme. Ronner stands to-day as the most famous cat painter in the 
world. She has studied the habits and character of her favorite 
animal, and understands cat and kitten nature thoroughly. The 
standard of excellence of the painters represented is very high; 
out of the twenty artists who exhibit their work in the Woman's 
Building, eleven have taken honors at other important exhibitions. 
A group of etchings by the Countess of Flanders has received 
much well-merited praise, while the single small piece of sculpture, 
a plow-horse, by the Comtesse d'Espiennes, makes the visitor wish 
to see more of her strong, sympathetic work. Some excellent 
examples of china-painting are exhibited by the School of the Rue 
de Marais at Brussels. The ecclesiastic embroideries of Mile. 
Dennis are worthy of attention, and the white embroideries of 
Mme. de Kerchove de Naeyer are masterpieces of delicate 
stitchery. 

(318) 



IX THE WOMAN'S BUILDING 



315 



The most important industry of the Belgian women is the lace- 
making, in which for so many years they have excelled. A good 
opportunity is offered to the connoisseur for the study of many 
rare and interesting examples of the rich laces for which Brussels, 
Ghent, Bruges, and so many other Flemish towns have long been 
famous. A dress of point d'Angleterre, lent by the Queen, is a 
triumph of the lace-maker's art. The coats of arms of the different 
Belgian provinces are wrought in the border. A veil of the Vir- 
gin, made in the last century, and lent by the Church of Saint 
Nicholas, has a very quaint and lovely Flemish design. Very 
remarkable pieces of 
the different styles of 
point lace of Marines, 
Valenciennes, Binche, 
Guipure, etc., may be 
studied here. 

The great revival of 
lace-making all over 
Europe is very clear- 
ly illustrated at the 
World's Fair. We learn 
from the exhibits at the 
Woman's Building that 
in Ireland, Italy, France, 
and Russia a large 
amount of fine lace is 
being made. In Bel- 
gium the art, while it has 
never languished as in 
these other countries, has felt the same quickening impulse which 
in at least two countries of Europe has revived a practically extinct 
industry. The imitation or machine-made laces, which for some 
time threatened the existence of the real lace industries, have now 
been relegated to their proper sphere, and no more take the place of 
the real laces than the paste-jewel takes the place of the diamond. 

Belgium is finely represented in the library, and not only by her 
large and interesting collection of books, but by the reports and 
statistics, which have been compiled with great care, and which to 
the student of sociology reveal much that throws light upon the 
condition of the people. . 

The Editor. 




PART 



:E DRESS. Ex-Ey 
Germany. 




CLOAK OF THE VIRGIN. BRUSSELS, XVIII CENTURY. 
Property of Treasury of St. Nicholas Church. Belgium. 



EPILOGUE. 



^ A ^ 7 HAT shall the harvest be?" This question must have 
\ \ occurred, sooner or later, to each of the many women 
who have given their time, their thought, their work, 
to the rearing of our woman's temple. The Algerian maiden, 
whose white banner was laid upon the desk on the opening day, 
is one of the myriads 
o f w o m e n w hose 
thought and sympathy 
have traveled to us 
along the slender, im- 
perishable line of the 
thought railway. Our 
building is like the ter- 
minal station of a vast 
city, where the iron 
rails come together 
from the north, south, 
east, and west. The 
freight that our rail- 
Avay has brought is 
very precious, and it is 
because we recognize 
the value of what has 
been sent to us that 
the idea has arisen 
and gradually taken 
form of a granary in 
which to store the 
golden fruit, the har- 
vest of the careful sow- 
ing and glad reaping. 

The real result of the great labor can not be written in words 
or computed in figures. Thought outweighs brute force, wealth 
art itself; and we are to-day governed by the thoughts of individ 

( 317 ) 




FIRE SCREEN. 

Designed by Marianne Furst, Teacher in the Vienna 

School of Art Embroidery. 

Made bv Hermine "Watte. Austria. 




SCREEN. 
Painted and Exhibited by H. I. H. the Archduchess Marie Therese. Austria. 



IN THE WOMAN S BUILDING. 



319 



uals among peoples whose glory has become a fable. The real, 
permanent result of what women have done in connection with the 
World's Fair lies in the inscrutable future. It forms a tiny link in 
the great chain of human progress. Human nature, however, is a 
curious combination of the finite and infinite, and while we are 
satisfied to believe that the record of our work will be found writ- 
ten upon the page of to-morrow, we have a desire for something 
which we call real and permanent, but which is in fact perishable 
and evanescent. We are 
not content to have 
planted a seed which 
shall grow to a tree, 
putting forth many blos- 
soms. W T e w x ant to see at 
least one little sprig 
bloom and bear. We 
women are thrifty, prac- 
tical beings, and it is 
probable that every one 
of us who has labored, in 
a little or large degree, 
for our building, desires % 
that the memory of her : 
labor shall be perpetu- 
ated in those perishable 
materials, brick and mor- v 
tar, marble and iron. 

The Kensington Mu- i 
seum is one of the out- I 
growths of the first 
exposition, held in Lon- § 
don in the year 1857. r 
This institution is the , 
finest museum of indus- 
trial art in the world. It 
has had much to do with the improved standard of taste 
which has been so noticeable in England during the last half 
■f the century. The artist and artisan study here the best 
examples in w^ood-carving, pottery, embroidery, metal-work, 
etc. Designing has been dignified into an art, where it was 
formerly a trade. 

There is a wide-spread feeling that the nucleus of such a 




LIMOGES UNDERGLAZE JAR. 
E. A. Richardson. United States. 



320 ART AND HANDICRAFT 

museum now exists in the Woman's Building, and a growing 
desire that out of it may grow a permanent building which may 
serve the men and women of our country as the Kensington 
Museum serves the English. 

It is still too early to speak definitely of this idea which is 
shaping itself in the public mind, but there are many who believe 
that the Woman's Building is the corner-stone of a new and 
splendid edifice; if it has been laid true, and firm, and square, the 
hundreds of women who have labored for it will feel that their 
efforts are well repaid. 

In the Government Building one of the most valuable exhibits 
is a collection of coins of all nations and ages. It contains beauti- 
ful Greek and Roman coins, and picturesque oriental pieces of 
money; but in all the rich display there is not one bit of gold or 
silver that interests us as profoundly as the tiny bit of metal known 
as the ''Widow's Mite." If every woman who has learned some- 
thing or enjoyed somewhat through the means of the building 
will contribute her mite, the thank-offering will raise and equip 
the permanent building in a manner worthy of the cause to which 
it will be devoted. 

The Editor. 

The limits of this volume have made it impossible to mention anything outside 
of the Woman's Building, and, owing to unavoidable delays, much that is valuable 
and interesting in the building itself was made ready at too late a day to receive 
mention here; thus New York's fine "Loan Collection" in the Woman's Building, 
while arranged at an early day, was classified at too late a day to receive the mention 
it deserves in our book. 

Attention is called to the colonial loan collections of the thirteen original States, 
made under the direction of the Board of Lady Managers, in the rotunda of the 
Government Building. These contain articles of priceless value and interest. 

In the northeast corner of the gallery in the Liberal Arts Building a space is 
devoted to woman's work. Here may be seen a stained glass memorial window by 
Mary Tillinghast, very beautiful in color and tender in sentiment. Miss C. E. Scott 
exhibits a collection of china and embroidery which should be visited by all persons 
who are interested in these branches of decorative art. Annie Leota Way exhibits 
some clever designs, and a well-constructed relief map of Palestine, and Ella Cogswell 
Ripley shows some excellent designs for wall papers. These are but a few of the inter- 
esting features of this department. This section of the Liberal Arts Building is 
under the direction of Mrs. Rosine Ryan. — Ed. 






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